''Martin Luther, Heretic'' is a 1983 film made to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the birth of

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...

. It was released on 8 November 1983 in the United Kingdom, two days before the 500th jubilee on 10 November. It starred

Jonathan Pryce Sir Jonathan Pryce (born John Price; 1 June 1947) is a Welsh actor who is known for his performances on stage and in film and television. He has received numerous awards, including two Tony Awards and two Laurence Olivier Awards. In 2021 he wa ...

as Martin Luther. Maurice Denham reprised his role of Johann von Staupitz that he played in the 1973

American Film Theater From 1973 to 1975, using approximately 500 movie theaters across the US, The American Film Theatre presented two seasons of film adaptations of well-known plays. Each film was shown only four times at each theatre. By design, these were not films ...

film ''

Luther Luther may refer to: People * Martin Luther (1483–1546), German monk credited with initiating the Protestant Reformation * Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), American minister and leader in the American civil rights movement * Luther (give ...

''. The time frame of the film is 1506-1522: the beginning of Luther's monastic vocation to his return from exile at the

Wartburg The Wartburg () is a castle originally built in the Middle Ages. It is situated on a precipice of to the southwest of and overlooking the town of Eisenach, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It was the home of St. Elisabeth of Hungary, the p ...

in 1522. A medieval

dramatic Dramatic may refer to: * Drama, a literary form involving parts for actors * Dramatic, a voice type classification in European classical music, describing a specific vocal weight and range at the lower end of a given voice part * Dramatic soprano, ...

troupe's performances of

mystery play Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the represen ...

s provide the unifying motif for a parallel telling of the story of the film. When Luther's carriage en route from the

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon language, Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the Ri ...

it is shown passing an actor wearing a

devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...

's mask. When this scene is revisited at the end of the film, the actor slips this mask off his face.

Historical inconsistencies

Some could interpret the portrayal of Martin Luther returning to

, which occurred in early 1522, as his approving of the radical changes instigated by

Andreas Karlstadt Andreas Rudolph Bodenstein von Karlstadt (148624 December 1541), better known as Andreas Karlstadt or Andreas Carlstadt or Karolostadt, or simply as Andreas Bodenstein, was a German Protestant theologian, University of Wittenberg chancellor, a c ...

the year before. However, historically, Luther opposed some of the changes as well as the rashness of the changes he did approve of. The movie makes the out-break of the radical changes the instigation of his return thus implying, probably rightly, the need he felt to moderate them. He preached his "Invocavit Sermons" against this radical reform in Wittenberg, and he had some of the changes rolled back.

Cast

* Maurice Denham - Father Staupitz * John Nettleton -

* Clive Swift -

Johann Tetzel Johann Tetzel (c. 1465 – 11 August 1519) was a German Dominican friar and preacher. He was appointed Inquisitor for Poland and Saxony, later becoming the Grand Commissioner for indulgences in Germany. Tetzel was known for granting indulgence ...

* Philip Stone -

Johann Eck Johann Maier von Eck (13 November 1486 – 13 February 1543), often anglicized as John Eck, was a German Catholic theologian, scholastic, prelate, and a pioneer of the counter-reformation who was among Martin Luther's most important inter ...

* David de Keyser - Duke Frederick *Hugh Dickson -

Georg Spalatin Georg(e) Spalatin () was the pseudonym taken by Georg Burkhardt (; 17 January 1484 – 16 January 1545), a German humanist, theologian, reformer, secretary of the Saxon Elector Frederick the Wise, as well as an important figure in the histo ...

*Jon Croft - Berlepsch * Valentine Dyall - Chancellor *Pip Miller - Captain *John Byron - Papal Nuncio *Eric Francis - Keeper of Relics * Timothy Ackroyd - Student *Neal Swettenham - Student *James Kirby -

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

External links

* 1983 films Films about Martin Luther Films with screenplays by William Nicholson 1980s English-language films {{christian-film-stub