Cheap Empires - Martin Luther (DVD) (Cassian Harrison) Price

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Customer Reviews of Empires - Martin Luther

Not the best on the life of Luther.
I agree with the person above who said this PBS documentary was bland. The dramatizations were sparse and unneccessary. Mostly, Luther is shown as an old man, riding in a cart, or on his deathbed, with cut-ins of scholars, expounding on his life and influence. Not really a "Life and Times of Luther," but more of a "Collection of Opinions about the Life and Times of Luther." Very little is said about his faith. More is said about the politics of his times.
Some better resources: Martin Luther (1953, starring Niall MacGinnis), Luther (2003, starring Joseph Fiennes). I even thought that Luther (1973, starring Stacy Keach), with all of its shortcomings, was a better presentation of Luther's life than this.

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Fascinating Overview
I've looked over the reviews for this release, and I think I see two camps.

One is composed of Lutheran scholars - or at least those with an in-depth understanding of Luther and what he meant for the modern world. They seem to think this documentary is dull or simplistic.

The other (of which I am a part) know who Luther is, know of the 95 theses, and know that he was the major figure of the Reformation, but not much beyond that - the personality and figure of Luther himself, the level of pressure he was under, his effect on secular government as well as the Church, etc.

To this second camp, I think this documentary is a fabulous overview of the life of Luther and what immense influence he had over the course of history. It touches on the major points of his life and effect, and it NEVER seemed dull to me - quite the opposite.

As filmmaking, the documentary relies on original footage more than old drawings or paintings. The actors are good, although oddly, they never get to speak a line. It's all narration (Liam Neeson does well and the actor of Luther's voice is convincing) instead of direct re-enactment. It perhaps lacks the freshness of PBS's 'Benjamin Franklin' for this reason, and might explain why another reviewer found the documentary to be boring. In the end, I found this technique to be a very minor point of critique.

A final thought would be that the soundtrack on this DVD is top-notch - I would have bought a CD of it if it had been released.

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Powerful and majestic
I was impressed by how the writers used both the last journey to Eisleben in 1546 and the prior 1521 journey to Worms as complimentary events. The visual imagery was fantastic. the narrators were powerful and their discourse was enlightening. The comparison between the printing press and the internet was novel. Jan Hus failed because he was before printing. I have watched it over and over again. Luther was a man who changed history - of course God's sovereignty over history and human events is apparent. Luther should have failed. But he did not.