"The real world can only be understood by rejecting God as an explanation. Anyone who answers a question by invoking God's will just doesn't know. The way to knowledge is paved by curiosity and inquiry, not by faith and dogma. Inquiry means movement, faith means stagnation, for faith is content with ignorance."
- 'The Non-Existence of God' by Sydal von Friedberg
"Presenting two extremes as the only two options in a choice is a logical fallacy called a false dilemma. This fallacy misrepresents the issue and excludes any nuance, which just isn't reflective of the way the world works." - Dr. Fran Turek
A tale that unintentionally touches on how the powerful dictated religion, science, and law among the masses, limiting the People's exposure to learn for themselves, what this film has going for it is the historical setting, the somber mood with macabre dealings, and the hint of magical romance. If the same tale were told as a modern story, I think it would alienate and fail, flat out. The anti-faith message starts to get heavy but the actions and dialogue of the skeptics become monstrous and zealous, faithless religious fervor unto itself. The skeptics, even our protagonist, have been conveniently given future eyes, where they have lofty ideas about the advancement of science while everybody else, especially those of faith, are damnedly ignorant.
An interesting tale considering it's German connection. A tale of scientific exploration causing a travesty by murdering innocents to examine their anatomy and their souls. A twisted perception of that which we don't know in God and eternity and the soul. I think the writers wanted to show how faith caused ignorance and death, and science could get you murdered because faith wouldn't let it flourish. This doesn't age well considering the recent abuse of science for politics and pandemics, or as appropriate as ever, the elitist mind set that some deserve knowledge at the expense of most. It's almost like the writers don't remember a tragic World War and it's travesties.
When you look at historical elitist communities, royalties at times, they would decree their laws in the name of God or in the name of their own lineage or in the name of country. This is why many preferred for the masses to not know how to read, or at least not know the language that the Bible was written in. What was also common though, was a man of faith being a man of science. Science was not forbidden to people of faith but education was forbidden for the lowly ones, lest they become smart enough to topple their rulers. This mentality still exists today, where science and faith are pitted against each other to exert control but both are very complimentary of each other for a sincere seeker.
According to this tale, you die by faith, ignorantly, but are murdered for science. And it's faith's fault that science cannot flourish, since science cannot force itself on some to educate others.
