Ken Burns can enthrall me for hours on end with lavishly filmed, edited, and narrated history. It’s my hope that our hour-long special on Luther and the Reformation will be enthralling too. For me it was exciting to have access to actual documents, papal bulls, letters of indulgence, Bibles in both Latin and German, and pamphlets by Luther — all dating from the early 1500s. The Luther Haus in Wittenberg is the best single museum for Reformation artifacts and documents. We were given complete access to its treasures. We scouted one day to make a list and a plan. Then we filmed for four extremely efficient hours getting lots of great images to “cover” our script. As it was by far the most images we’ve ever shot in one location, I decided to be well-organized and catalog the clips. It’s like a puzzle, and at this single stop we got these 60 pieces. Here’s my list of camera shots:
Art shot in Luther Haus in this order: 1. Wittenberg townscape etching, 2. Frederic the Wise small color painting, 3. Luther with professor’s bonnet, 4. Indulgence etching scene with Tetzel, 5. Actual small indulgence (same thing filmed later in treasures room), 6. Tetzel on horse etching, 7. Pope Leo X, 8. Luther’s actual wooden pulpit, 9. First printed 95 Theses, 10. Luther with monk haircut etching, 11. Jan Hus etching, 12. Tiny color burning scene (big one later is much better), 13. Worms townscape color etching, 14. Booklet cover Luther at Worms in 1521, 15. Color painted Luther portrait, 16. Emperor Charles V, 17. Luther in disguise etching, 18. Cover showing three marriages, 19. Receipt for payment to city, 20. Money chest for community, 21. Latin Bible, 22. Etching of Luther and another reformer taking Communion, 23. Luther preaching etching, 24. Etching of fat usurer with good farmers, 25. Color portraits of two princes, 26. Life-size Frederic the Wise painting, 27. Portrait of Katie and Martin, 28. Wedding scene on book cover, 29. Katie portrait etching, 30. Locked metal box and coins, 31. Small painted portraits of Luther and Melanchthon, 32. Portraits of two princes, 33. Luther holding Bible (close up of hands on Bible), 34. Two-page spread with music, 35. First complete German Bible, 36. Tiny hymnal; Printing Press Room (37. Printing press, 38. Pope as Satan, 39. Color portrait of group of great Reformers, 40. Cranach illustrations on Luther booklets: 40. Grouping of several, 41. Cartoons of grinder, 42. Animal faces, 43. Big donkey, 44. Two anti-Jewish covers); Treasures Room — three 16th-century documents (45. Big one good for 100 days less in purgatory, 46. Small one with blanks to fill in, 47. Medium one with dingleberries), 48. Luther and Katie portraits young, 49. Martin and Katie in one painting, 50. Martin and Katie old, 51. Luther and swan etching, 52. Martin Luther fine color portrait, 53. Gathering of Reformers (with faces and the pope and company trying to blow out candle), 54. Big paintings of Diet of Worms (many shots), 55. Burning of papal bull, 56. Luther at Wartburg Castle fighting the devil, 57. Luther’s living room (with Rick walk through), 58. Luther’s first New Testament in German, 59. Pulpit room (with Rick walk through), 60. Rick walk into museum from outside — two versions, wide shot of the building exterior.
Can Rick read German? in Fraktur? And what dialect of German did Martin Luther use?
Do you address Martin Luther’s strong antisemitism in the documentary?
Your new project sounds both interesting to your fans and personally rewarding for you. My wife and I are looking forward to buying and watching this documentary. And we are not Lutheran.
In today’s market glut of ‘Reality TV’ the opportunity to remember and to learn more about one of the most significant people in the history of Christianity and in the history of ‘modern’ Europe is most welcome. Thank you for undertaking it!
Guys,
Thanks for spending so much time reporting on these historic artifacts and his convictions. He really shook up Europe for centuries. It’s great that these books and other items weren’t burned.
T. T.
In spite of what we see today as the ungodly aspect of indulgences, humanity did get some pretty fabulous architecture and art from them. Would we have a St. Peters and all it’s accompanying art without them? Hospitals, leper colonies, roads and bridges? Who knows? How did the population fall for the idea of indulgences? Are today’s televangelists constant pleas for funding much different? Crystal Cathedral? How about Federal taxes???
Reformation, probably needed, but will you be touching on Luther’s hatred of Jews? Would there have been a Holocaust without Luther? Was it just a coincidence that Kristallnacht fell on Martin Luther’s birthday? Will you be including any passages from “On the Jews and Their Lies”?
Perhaps a look at the Judensau on Luther’s church in Wittenberg of which he wrote: “Here on our church in Wittenberg a sow is sculpted in stone. Young pigs and Jews lie suckling under her. Behind the sow a rabbi is bent over the sow, lifting up her right leg, holding her tail high and looking intensely under her tail and into her Talmud, as though he were reading something acute or extraordinary, which is certainly where they get their Shemhamphoras.”
Anyways I was just wondering,,,