Not a great film by any stretch of the imagination but it has it's worth. Joesph Fiennes stars as Martin Luther, a man who would shape the history of Europe.
The problem I found with Luther is it's representation of Catholics. They are portrayed as villains, when they were just conservative and would not bend. Luther was a man ahead of his time and portraying the Catholics as cut out villains eventually weakens Luther's character. Luther was a visionary and when you put him next to stereotypical villains, the story becomes good vs evil, instead of an inspiring film which it should be.
Fiennes' portrayal of Luther is worthy but the script doesn't give the character any depth. You get the traditional reasons for why he posted his 95 theses but we don't see why these things bother him so much. The movie doesn't go into why he was such a great leader.
An old and frail Peter Ustinov gives a sad performance as Frederick the Wise. We know death is looming over him.
Overall the film seemed very low key to me. The set design and visuals aren't impressive. The cinematography is poor and overall it has a direct to video feel.
I recommend Luther for Fiennes and not much else
The problem I found with Luther is it's representation of Catholics. They are portrayed as villains, when they were just conservative and would not bend. Luther was a man ahead of his time and portraying the Catholics as cut out villains eventually weakens Luther's character. Luther was a visionary and when you put him next to stereotypical villains, the story becomes good vs evil, instead of an inspiring film which it should be.
Fiennes' portrayal of Luther is worthy but the script doesn't give the character any depth. You get the traditional reasons for why he posted his 95 theses but we don't see why these things bother him so much. The movie doesn't go into why he was such a great leader.
An old and frail Peter Ustinov gives a sad performance as Frederick the Wise. We know death is looming over him.
Overall the film seemed very low key to me. The set design and visuals aren't impressive. The cinematography is poor and overall it has a direct to video feel.
I recommend Luther for Fiennes and not much else