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The end titles tell us that Luther paved the way for "religious freedom," but this is a remarkably misleading note on which to conclude the story, for two reasons. First, Luther's emphasis on personal conscience over traditional doctrine helped pave the way for the individualism and heightened skepticism of the modern era. (Indeed, Luther himself challenged the canonicity of the Epistle of James and a few other Scriptures.)

Second, the historical Luther did not want to achieve "freedom," but to reform the Church, and by the time of the Augsburg Confession in 1530, with which this film ends, he had already begun to denounce fellow Protestants, such as the Zwinglians and Anabaptists, who disagreed with him on various teachings.

Luther and the movement he founded were full of such contradictions, but, just as earlier films picked and chose those parts of his story that either built up the faith of Protestants or challenged their assumptions, the new film aims to affirm the tolerance and diversity of our own times. Each generation, it seems, gets the Luther that it needs.

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Turning Point: Luther's Lost Opportunity	Printer view
At Marburg, the last hope of a united Protestantism ran aground on the Last Supper.

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What Luther Said	Printer view
When Martin Luther stood up for his ideas at the Diet of Worms, did he really say, "Here I stand"?