Send it back to that mental institution

Rating: 3/10 (28 June 2005)

For most of it's length, this is a magnificently dull film. It has literally nothing to recommend it at first to anyone who actually expects entertainment from it. Jeanne of Arc is a fascinating character, but, frankly, showing a lot of pompous jurors and other court officals asking her questions and her just staring forward like a deer in headlights just doesn't work. It is true that some skill emerges if you wait long enough(The torture device, the revolt) but, frankly, I think it is a big mark against this film that we never see Joan doing any of the things that made her the important figure she is (lifting the siege at Orleans would have been nice, even if just in flashback for a few seconds)An insane person no doubt would be able to stand up to torture if they think they are in the right, so it weakens the image of Jeanne. I am not altogether sure that the revolt at the end was even real, and I am dead sure there are a lot of acronisms in it. That, to me, means the movie is tarnishing Jeanne's name with a propaganda slant.