John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, and Brother Klaus (Niklaus von Flüe) were three very different men who shaped the Christian faith in Switzerland. With this docu-drama, award-winning filmmaker Rainer Wälde celebrates the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation and the 600th anniversary of the birth of Brother Klaus, Switzerland’s most famous saint.
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John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, and Brother Klaus (Niklaus von Flüe) were three very different men who shaped the Christian faith in Switzerland. John Calvin was an intellectual giant of the Reformation, Ulrich Zwingli was a humble priest who brought reform to the church and died in battle, and Brother Klaus was a mystic who left everything to seek God in the wilderness. With this docu-drama, award-winning filmmaker Rainer Wälde celebrates the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation and the 600th anniversary of the birth of Brother Klaus, Switzerland’s most famous saint. In comparing and contrasting these three figures, we see how the practice of the faith changed in Switzerland in the late Middle Ages. These changes would ultimately impact the entire world.
Filmmaker Rainer Walde's ambitious but overstuffed historical documentary randomly jumps between three titular figures from the 15th and 16th centuries who played a part in bringing the Protestant Reformation to Switzerland. St. Nicholas of Flüe, better known as Brother Klaus, was a hermit and mystic who left his wife and 10 children (as well as his farm and prior military career) to live a contemplative life, serving as a mediating voice to reduce escalating tensions between Catholics and emerging Protestants. Ulrich Zwingli was a Reformation leader who successfully challenged many Catholic traditions and practices, drawing the favorable attention of Martin Luther but nearly provoking a Swiss civil war. Finally, John Calvin—the founder of Calvinism and a man who acquired much authority over church matters (altering the liturgy and declaring others to be heretics)—cemented the Reformation in Switzerland. Unfortunately, it's hard to gain more than a few impressions or the most general sense of appreciation from this project that would have been better served if it were divided into several films.
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