Katharina Luther (ARD, 2017)

Katharina Luther is a historical and biographical movie (based on a true story) about the woman who was married to Martin Luther, the driving force behind the reformation of the Christian church in Europe. It was shown on German television (ARD) and released on DVD in February 2017. Here is some basic information about it:

** Director: Julia von Heinz

** Writer: Christian Schnalke

** Soundtrack: German – no English subtitles

** Subtitles: German

** Run time: 105 minutes

** Bonus feature: 1 item = 30 minutes

** Total run time: 135 minutes

The cast includes the following

** Karoline Schuch as Katharina Luther (born von Bora) (1499-1552)

** Devid Striesow as Martin Luther (1483-1546)

** Ludwig Trepte as Philipp Melanchton (1497-1560)

** Martin Ontrop as Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553)

** Claudia Messner as Barbara Cranach (1485-1540)

** Louis Christiansen as Martin Luther junior (1531-1565)

** Franz Himmelreich as Paul Luther (1533-1593)

** Carlotta von Falkenheyn as Margarethe Luther (1534-1570)

Since this movie is based on a true story, the basic facts are part of the public record. They are not a secret. Therefore I feel free to mention some of them here. If you wish to know more about the main characters in this movie, you can simply google their names.

Why is this movie shown on ARD in 2017? This is in order to mark the 500-year anniversary of a famous event that took place in 1517. In that year Martin Luther published his 95 theses about the Catholic Church. According to the legend, he posted them on the door of a church in the German town Wittenberg. This event is regarded as the start of the reformation in Europe.

Martin Luther appears in this movie, but he is not the main character. This movie is about the woman who became his wife: Katharina von Bora. The story is set in the midst of the reformation, but the focus is not on politics or religion; the focus is on Katharina and the people around her.

If you ask me, this approach is a good idea. The story of Martin Luther and the reformation has been told many times, in books as well as in films. But the story of the woman behind the man is not so well-known. Her story deserves to be told, and this movie makes a good attempt to do this. If you ask me, it is largely but not completely successful.

The movie can be divided into five chapters:

# 1. We see Katharina as a child who is 6 years old. She is placed in a convent by her father. This scene takes place in 1505.

# 2. We see Katharina as an adult in the convent. She is now 23 years old. This chapter begins in 1522.

# 3. Escape from the convent. Katharina is now 24 years old. This scene takes place in April 1523.

# 4. Katharina marries Martin Luther. She is now 26. This scene takes place in June 1525.

# 5. We see Katharina and her life with Martin and their children. This chapter runs until 1542.

On-screen messages placed at the end of the movie informs us that Martin Luther dies four years later, in 1546, and that Katharina dies six years after her husband, in 1552.

Martin and Katharina had six children; sadly, two of them died before their parents:

# 1. (1526-1575) Johannes “Hans”

# 2. (1527-1528) Elizabeth

# 3. (1529-1542) Magdalene

# 4. (1531-1565) Martin Junior

# 5. (1533-1593) Paul

# 6. (1534-1570) Margarethe

What do reviewers say about this movie? On IMDb it has a rating of 68 per cent, which corresponds to 3.4 stars on Amazon. If you ask me, this average rating is too low.

On the German version of Amazon there are by now 22 reviews of this product. The average rating is 4.2 stars. If you ask me, this average rating is more appropriate.

I like this movie and I want to give it a good rating, but it has one significant flaw. It does not cover the last six years of Katharina’s life, the time from Martin’s death in 1546 until her own death in 1552. Those years are important, because they illustrate how few rights a single woman (even a widow) had at that time. I have to remove one star because of this flaw. Therefore I think it deserves a rating of four stars.

PS # 1. The bonus feature on the DVD is a documentary film about Martin Luther and his views on women: Martin Luther und die Frauen. This film runs for 30 minutes.

PS # 2. For more information, see the following books:

** Die Frau des Reformators by Karin Jäckel (2006)

** Katharina – die starke Frau an Luthers Seite by Eleonore Dehnerdt (2017)

PS # 3. The following items about Martin and Katharina Luther are available online from the ARD website:

** The Making of Katharina Luther – 9 minutes

** Martin Luther und die Antisemitismus – 6 minutes

** Das ganze Leben – 4 minutes

** Eine Unmöglichkeit - 4 minutes

** Luther und das Judentum - 3 minutes

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 Contemporary paintings of Martin and Katharina Luther

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