I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Strong and Moving!

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

one of the films who in easy way could be defined as a wise work. because it is a religious, political and religious film, in same measure, but its first virtue remains the high honesty about a not comfortable theme and the great cast. a portrait of Martin Luther. clear, fresh and out of ambiguity. because it is the story of a profound vulnerable man fighting for a vision about the Church out of any ambiguity. and this detail did "Luther" a profound useful film. because it has a large target. because it did not represent the voice of a Church but the delicate reconstruction of a struggle with deep social impact, not just heroic but necessary. plots and relations between different people and a form of heroism without hero. because the purpose is to define a period and its challenges. and, sure, the right answers.

Martin Luther (Joseph Fiennes) is a doubting monk in 1507 Erfurt. He is angered by indulgences after a 2 week trip to Rome. He is sent to Wittenberg to study. He starts preaching against profiting from fake relics and the selling of indulgences. The church is raising funds to build St. Peter's Basilica. Father John Tetzel (Alfred Molina) is a traveling monk selling the new indulgences. Luther's frustration boils over and he nails "The Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences" on the doors of his church. It's the start of the Protestant Reformation as his declaration puts him at odds with powerful forces, most importantly the Pope.I am not a theologian or a history expert. I don't know how much of the real story is retained and how much is simplified. I also take no sides in the battle. I feel for any Catholic who takes offense to the portrayal of the papacy. All of that is beyond the scope of this review. Joseph Fiennes is great with a few moments of overwrought acting. As a movie, it's compelling for the most part. The ending does lack a certain excitement. It ends at a perfectly good spot. The problem is that nailing the Theses is such a climax. The rest of the movie isn't quite as iconic.

My homework for one of my Communication and Journalism classes was to watch Eric Till's 2003 biopic of Martin Luther. I never heard a thing about this film before and hell I only knew the name of Martin Luther but not really who the man was and stuff. So if not for doing my homework I would never had seen this religious film and learn something about Martin Luther. My first impression was good, I was like "well at least some names in the credits are familiar, Alfred Molina and Bruno Ganz". Technically the film is competent, is a well-done film even that sometimes it looks quite like a TV movie. The acting is good and is actually Alfred Molina the one who for me delivers the best performance in the film. It is a very small performance tough, but when Alfred Molina appears everything comes together: his very good performance and what is for me the most enjoyable, the best part of the film. And is not that it's like a great piece of film-making, no, is just that is an engaging part with Martin Luther (Joseph Fiennes… he's decent if not fantastic. I'm just realizing he played William Shakespeare in the famous Best Picture winner Shakespeare in Love, certainly I haven't seen that picture… I'm waiting until I have to do it to do my homework!) continuing to see what's really f***** up with the church. Actually, I quite enjoyed all of the stuff with Luther opening the eyes to the people who were buying their stairways to heaven and later facing the superiors. Is pretty much obvious and classic stuff, you can forget the religious aspect since is just the classic situation of a man doing the right thing and because of that going totally against the ones with the power, the evil ones, you know ("f*** the indulgences, better give that money to the people who really need it"… that was basically the main thing with Luther). But the film stops being engaging to eventually be totally uninteresting and plain boring, pretty much when Luther goes to see the church people ends the entertaining parts and when Luther confirms that wrote the certain books the film begins to be totally uninteresting. So, I did learn a bit about Luther (the main connection with the stuff I'm doing in the class is the stuff of the church treating people that they are going to suffer forever in hell and stuff) and for some moments I wasn't very p*ssed off with the fact that I was seeing a religious film on a Saturday afternoon instead of one of the DVDs I got the day I rented Luther (I got The People vs. Larry Flint, 6ixtynin9 and a documentary of James Dean). If you don't care about Martin Luther, there's no reason why you should check out this film, it's not bad (though some bits like the whole stuff with Luther "fighting" with God are pretty ridiculous) but very far from being something special.

The scene from this film that stands out in my mind the most is in which Martin Luther, a sixteenth century monk with distinctively indignant features climbs the steps of the local Catholic parish church and nails an extensive list of written ecclesiastical abuses to its massive oaken doors. Joseph Fiennes portrays Luther, a searching, grave man, seeking answers in a hurting, yet corrupted world. The Roman Catholic Church, the very definition of Christianity of the day, holds sway over all of Europe through Pope Leo X (Uwe Ochsenknecht), the shadowy head of the Church. The Pope's agents are collecting money from the common people, telling them that they are buying their own salvation, while in reality they are funding the furthering the construction of the Vatican.Discovering the corruption in the Church while on a pilgrimage to Rome, Luther labors to Reform the Church. He speaks out against papal authority and proclaims salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Luther's enemies are many. Charles V, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (Torben Liebrecht) seeks to silence the Reformer, with the aide of the manipulative cardinal Alaender (Jonathan Firth). Eventually, Martin Luther appears before the Emperor himself, on the grounds he must recant his work and ultimately the truth of the Gospel, or die. "Luther" (2003) is an awe-inspiring, moving film. It tells the true story of Martin Luther, who was not only perhaps the greatest Protestant theologian but also one of the most courageous Christians of all time. The acting is sincere, the characters are believable and the overall message is deep. A highly recommended film to all who search for the truth.