The reformer

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Movie
Original title The reformer
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1968
length 105 minutes
Rod
Director Rudolf Jugert
script Günther Sawatzki
music Hans Ebel
camera Albert Benitz
cut Ursula May
occupation

The Reformer is a German television film from 1968 by Rudolf Jugert , with the actor Christian Rode in the leading role of Martin Luther .

The documentary play deals with the life and work of Martin Luther.

action

At the beginning of the 16th century, the fear of the approaching Last Judgment was widespread among the people. The guests who drink in an inn in Wittenberg are also familiar with this fear. But they heard a customer that Tetzel in the nearby Jüterbog sells indulgences that promises a remedy here. The Elector Friedrich of Saxony also heard of Tetzel's activities near his border. He is angry about it. He equipped Wittenberg with relics , for example a tooth of St. Clare , so that his subjects no longer have to make a dangerous pilgrimage to Rome or Santiago de Compostela to receive indulgences. But now Pope Leo has sent the great Sank Peters indulgence to him on the border and is pulling the money out of his pocket for his “little ones”. Basically, the indulgence letters sold by Tetzel are nothing more than bank drafts from the Fugger , sighs Friedrich. Spalatin , who listens to the concerns of his sovereign, has to agree with him. Spalatin, who has taken the position of Luther, who has already preached against indulgences three times in recent years, comforts the elector and suggests that Luther will once again do something against indulgence. In fact, Luther is angry. He refuses absolution to confessors who turn up with him with indulgences and refers them to the church, because they trust the devil's indulgences. Luther looked up the actual word for repentance in the original Greek text of the Bible . It is Metanoeite , translated again into German “ wandelt your Sinn”. In a conversation with Staupitz, Luther explains his new knowledge and reports on the 95 theses he has just formulated , which he published soon after the conversation. He wants to argue about them with scholars, but things turn out differently. The theses spread to the people through the printing press, and the official church is very angry about it.

In a conversation between Friedrich von Sachsen and Cardinal Cajetan , they agree that Luther may be interrogated by the Cardinal at the Diet of Augsburg in 1518 . Friedrich has thus found a wise compromise. Because the cardinal actually wanted Luther to be interrogated as a heretic in Rome, which Friedrich refused, because a professor, according to Friedrich, must first be interrogated in German lands before a trial can begin. About ten to twelve days later, Luther appears in Augsburg . There Serralonga explains to him that he used the word Revoco d. H. “I revoke” may speak. Soon afterwards Luther did not speak the word before the cardinal, but asks him to refute him and thus his theses. The cardinal who tries to do this fails, and so Luther remains in his position. The next night Luther secretly left the city on horseback through a gate whose guard was bribed.

On October 31, 1518, exactly one year after the theses were posted, Luther then arrives at his friends' home in Wittenberg. Soon after, he invited his friends Amsdorf , Karlstadt and Philipp Melanchthon to eat and drink. He explains to them that he wants to leave so that the elector does not have to suffer further because of him. He had invited her to say goodbye. But before he can implement his plan, a messenger suddenly arrives with a letter. The letter comes from Spalatin, saying he should stay. A nuncio from Rome called Cardinal Karl von Miltitz had arrived to present the elector with the rose of virtue . Soon afterwards there was a meeting between Miltiz and Luther, in which an agreement was reached. Both sides want to calm the dispute. This should restore peace. The peace appears to have been made possible, among other things, by the fact that Tetzel is now in cloister custody because, according to Miltiz, he is said to have enriched himself in the indulgence trade.

But there is only a short time of peace. Because a little later, Dr. Eck , Luther's colleague, Karlstadt for the disputation. But since the disputation is also supposed to deal with Luther's theses, he is now also challenged. So in 1519 the so-called Leipzig disputation took place at the University of Leipzig . Luther expresses in the disputation that popes and councils can be wrong and that the Holy Scriptures are above popes and councils. Eck contradicts and explains, among other things, that councils are error-free. Luther was a heretic. Luther replied that the most recent Lateran Council had rejected the resolutions of the Council of Constance and the Council of Basel , which stated that councils were above the Pope. So the old councils must have been wrong. This ends the disputation. Eck is now trying a bull of excommunication to obtain the pope against Luther, but the Pope has other worries. Emperor Maximilian has died. The freed throne will now be auctioned to the highest bidder. The Pope now bribes the electors with benefices and indulgences . He wants to enforce his candidate King Francis of France . But his bribes do nothing. The Fuggers and Welsers spent 130,000 guilders in bribes. In this way Charles V prevails in the election.

The trial against Luther was not resumed until 1520. Meanwhile, Luther wrote and published his great works To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation , On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church and On the Freedom of a Christian . On June 15, 1520 the bull Exsurge Domine was published. Now Luther's writings are to be burned. An incident occurs in Mainz in which the executioner refuses to burn the writings. In return, Luther and his students publicly burn the Pope's bull. Then the ban becomes legally valid. For 300 years it has been customary for the imperial ban to be pronounced. But the majority of the princes, cities and also the German bishops, as well as the belligerent knighthood are against it. Luther should first be heard at the Reichstag in Worms . Frederick the Wise also obtained an imperial-free escort.

At the Reichstag, Luther was again asked to withdraw. Luther does not withdraw here either and speaks the words: "Here I am, I can't help it, God help me, Amen." The emperor leaves the Reichstag and a tumult spreads. Luther screamed enthusiastically: “I'm through”. On the way back Luther is accompanied by Amsdorf and a monastery brother named Petzenstein . But the journey home in a carriage is interrupted by an attack, and Luther is dragged off to the Wartburg . Rumors are circulating in Europe that Luther was murdered. But Luther, now in eight and spell sitting in security at the Wartburg. Frederick the Wise had him kidnapped. Although he does not know where to go, he let his councilors choose the hiding place and consciously made sure that they did not reveal the hiding place to him, but it was at his behest. So Friedrich can explain to the still running Reichstag that he does not know where Luther is. At the Wartburg, Luther is now translating the New Testament into German. It was published in 1522. When riots break out in Wittenberg, he returns there and calms down the church people from the pulpit. In the next few years, however, despite Luther's written intervention, there was a great peasant uprising , which was crushed by the princes. In 1525 Luther married the runaway nun Katharina von Bora . In the following years the Reformation spread across Germany.

In 1530 there is a new Reichstag in Augsburg . Luther cannot take part in it because of the ban. He is therefore waiting in the nearby Veste Coburg . Meanwhile, Melanchthon reads out the Confessio Augustana at the Reichstag . The film ends with Luther praying to God at the Coburg Fortress and saying: “Your word is there even without me, Lord. We are all so foolish dear God ”.

background

The film was produced by the Second German Television (ZDF) through the Hamburg Ateliersbetrieb-GMBH studio . ZDF also took on the distribution.

With the cast you could win Christian Rode for the lead role. The role of Hans von Berlepsch in the film was taken over by one of his descendants, Tilo von Berlepsch . The role of Emperor Charles V was played by Konrad Halver , who became known for his radio play productions. Günther Sawatzki, who appears in the film as a narrator and expert, also wrote the script.

The film premiered simultaneously in Austria and the Federal Republic of Germany on October 31, 1968. It hasn't been on TV in many years. The film was released on DVD in Germany on August 4, 2017.

Historical authenticity

The film shows hardly any historical inaccuracies. The director Rudolf Jugert explained at the time that every scene was not only documented by sources , but also by secondary literature .

It is worth mentioning that the historian Günther Sawatzki, who acts as the narrator, defends the authenticity of the posting of the theses in the film with the argument that Luther's contemporaries, who survived his death, did not contradict the portrayal of the event of the posting of the theses. Said Sawatzki, it would be very strange if the theses had not been posted. Nevertheless, the actual posting of the theses is not illustrated in the film.

See also

References and comments

  1. ^ Translation literally according to the film
  2. ↑ See: The Internet Movie Database - Companies involved for Der Reformer (1968) (TV)
  3. ↑ The Internet Movie Database - Start Dates for Der Reformer (1968) (TV)
  4. ^ Johannes Horstmann: Martin Luther. On the change in the image of Luther in historiography and in film . Schwerte 1983, page 111

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