This film gives a sharp focus on the willful ignorance of the Catholic Church. Hus tried ever so valiantly to make known the truth of what the Bible offers humanity; yet the Council of Roman Catholic clergymen had no intention of allowing Hus to explain the truth of his convictions. They were only interested in their established corrupt power over the unlearned masses even at the cost of their own eternal souls. That a secular dynasty would show such cowardice at the threat of being excommnicated by an enity completely under its control was a tragic miscarriage of justice in the face of blatant righteousness.
It was the edict of Constantine that made the church free to thrive in the secular world of Roman dominance. Before Hus was Nero; and after Hus was Henry Vlll; and the church sure knew who was in charge. Who ever thought of the separation of Church and state as being a feeble excuse for the spinelessness of the state? Long live the immovable noble courage of John Hus.

This video contains a 55-minute dramatization of the trial of John Hus and a 25-minute documentary which uses clips from the movie. I prefer the latter for its clarity and additional contextualizing content. John Hus was a Bohenian priest, a follower of John Wycliffe, who took the words of the New Testament at face value when only church authorities were allowed to interpret scripture. He was an early translator of the Bible into the vernacular and he encouraged the common people to read it. Even more alarming, he preceeded Luther in declaring that faith alone is necessary for salvation, not the purchase of indulgences. The dramatization fails in the trial scenes because although Hus is accused of heresy, one never understands exactly what he said that was heretical, beyond his insistance on faith alone. The character of Hus repeatedly declares that everything he has preached can be found in the Bible, but few specific citations are mentioned. The film also lacks in not presenting any material about the state of the Catholic church in the fifteenth century. This was the period of the Great Schism in which the church was divided into two camps, each with their own pope and government. Peoples and nations were divided over which pope was authentic. Nothing is made of Hus' criticism of this schism or of church corruption. This film does give valuable introductory material to those unfamiliar with Hus, but it could be improved by the addition of more historical background information and by being more specific about the charges against Hus.

This film is well done. The acting is excelent. The account of the trial is excellent, and shows what John Hus was up against. The scene with the Emperor and the Bishop was excellent,and is a key to understanding what happened to John Hus. I recommend that those who buy this, also buy the film on John Wycliffe, whose influence was great upon John Hus.

A big Hus fan, it is nice that the previously released VHS version is now on DVD.

Why this part of history should be viewed and taken to heart by the church is that history has strange phenomena of repeating itself. What this brief inquiry drama into Hus' life shows is what can happen when those in control and power of church are challenged. Silence their critics with force. I continually show this in Bible study class about history with the tie to Martin Luther. Luther was accused of being a Hussite. He was proud of this, for he knew full well that Hus was so similar: proclaimer of gospel by grace through faith, and promised free travel to and from the Diet, but in Hus' case the return trip was denied.

The politics of the church to suppress the truth is the master item to be gleaned from this well done piece. The tension for the viewer is strong at the end, when even then no one will answer specifically what this preacher has said wrong from God's Word that would require him to meet the flame. Then that beautiful singing as the flames begin to caress. Haunting! A lesson to be learned here.

Further interested in Hus will find scholar Spinka's works excellent, but expensive in most cases as are out of print.

John (Jan) Hus challenged the Roman Catholic Church arguing that the Bible is the final authority in matters of doctrine and that Christ, not the pope, is head of the church. Most importantly, Hus preached that salvation was by faith alone, a gift that in no way could be bought, worked for, or earned. Hus was martyred after being betrayed by the Holy Roman Emperor, who went back on his promise to Hus of safe passage to the Council of Constance.

It would seem that Hus' story would be exciting, but this movie, a historical drama rather than a documentary, is rather bland actually, only very superficially telling us of Hus, not mentioning much about his following Wycliffe's teachings nor telling us anything of his personal life and relations that might draw us more into his character. The acting and production is not as good as most other Reformation or Pre-Reformation films I've seen; however, this is the only movie on John Hus that I'm aware of (not to say there aren't others), so I'm grateful for it being out there.