Product Description

This DVD is playable in all regions. Includes English, Spanish and Portuguese language tracks with optional English subtitles.

Special Features:
-Chapter titles provided for easy scene access
-Chapter introductions by John E. Sharp, Mennonite historian
-Interview with Myron Augsburger, Pilgrim Aflame author
-30-min. documentary on the Anabaptists
-Making of interviews
-Children’s story with slideshow

The year is 1525. Michael and Margaretha Sattler have fled their religious orders. Their quest: restore the church to the purity of its early days when communities of believers practiced peace, compassion and sacrificial love.

The Sattlers join a group called the Anabaptists and together challenge the 1000 year control of the Church by the State. They call for baptism to once again become, not a mark of citizenship, but an adult and voluntary decision to follow Christ. As their movement grows, so does the determination of their enemies to stop them...by any means necessary.

In 1527, Michael is burned at the stake and Margaretha drowned. But their movement survives and today is carried on by the Mennonites, Mennonite Brethren, Brethren in Christ, the Hutterites, and the Amish.

Warning: Contains some graphic depiction of historical persecution. Viewer discretion advised.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44187 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-09-01
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: Portuguese, Spanish, English
• Subtitled in: English
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 99 minutes

Customer Reviews

A Martyr's Death Is Bearable (Phenomenal Historical Drama With Documentary Included)....
THE RADICALS is a top-notch dramatization of the true story of Michael and Marghareta Sattler, a married couple who were separately executed for their faith in 1527. For young children the included special feature children's story is recommended instead of the feature film, as it avoids some of the torture scenes, even though the feature movie itself avoids anything too graphic, for example, reciting rather than visually showing the extent of the judgment imposed upon Sattler. Through the centuries Christians facing potential harm for their faith have been strengthened by Sattler, who purposely planned a signal to publicly show whether God would give grace to endure martyrdom. The feature film doesn't show this part, though its explained in the special features and history, that Michael before his execution predetermined to raise his finger heavenward to indicate whether martyrdom was bearable and for how long. Michael's hands were bound, and also his tongue was cut out (so his words couldn't affect crowd), but when the fire burned thru the rope, Michael raised his finger and kept it up. Days later his wife Marghareta was drowned after refusing to recant, saying "I do not follow my beliefs because of my husband, I follow my husband because of my beliefs."

The movie's story, which is told thru the character of Willhem de Rijcker (an Anabaptist Radical who influenced Michael but later recanted and so saved his physical life), starts with then unmarried Michael and Marghareta working in proximity to each other, Michael as a monk who became a friar, and Marghareta was in an order that took care of the poor and sick. Because of plague, famine, and war in Eastern Europe, the peasants were suffering, yet as friar it was Michael's job to collect taxes from them. The Protestant Reformation had started, as had printing of scriptures for common man by the new printing press, and Michael began to question the tax-collecting and other practices and teachings of the Church. He asked Marghareta to leave with him to search for truth and a new, though risky, life. In Zurich they heard the "Radicals" (as they were called) teach a message of freedom of personal belief rather than belief imposed by a state church, and of not so much "reforming" but "restoring" the Church, going back to the teachings of Jesus and his original disciples by finding out and obeying what was taught by the scriptures, not an insitution. This did not go over well with Ulrich Zvingli, head of the Zurich Church, who clung to many Catholic practices despite being a Protestant reformer. For ex, the unbiblical 1000-year Church tradition of infant baptism was continued, mandatory, and had become a mark of citizenship. The Anabaptists' refusal to baptize babies was just one manifestation of their bigger issue: belief in separation of church and state and freedom of worship.

At a certain point the Anabaptists gathered from several countries in Schleitheim to tweak their beliefs and settle increasing disagreements about particulars. After drafting a statement of faith, "The Schleitheim Articles" (whose 7 points are included inside the DVD case), the Sattlers were arrested, tried, and executed as heretics, two of several thousand Anabaptists ultimately killed by fellow Protestants. Their spritual descendents include some Mennonites, Brethren, Baptists, Quakers, and others. The movie is historically accurate when compared to books written on this topic (such as Martyr's Mirror). That plus its inspiration/integrity motivating value, its unique subject matter, its many special features, and its quality acting and production, make it worth its price.

This Couple Shaped Church History
Here is the journey of a man and a woman that actively put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ during the Reformation Era.

They were used by God to lead others into the practice of adult baptism. That was contrasted to infant baptism. They were called Anabaptist.

This practice was violently opposed by the leaders of the church and the state.

They continued amidst persecution, suffering and ending in death as martyrs for their faith.

This movie makes personal and real a critical season of church history.

Church History
It's really awesome when you can put a picture to what you read in books and that's what this movie does. Every Christian should watch it.