Dogmatic religious fervor

Rating: 4/10 (28 August 2017)

Silent film about the trial of Joan of Arc. The film begins with the description of the discovery of the records of her trial affirming that it is based on these. From there we are transported directly to the trial, from the trial to the torture and from there to the bonfire. In between we have many facial expressions close-ups from the various protagonists involved in the process, from the glumness and fury of the clerics who accuse her of heresy and witchcraft, to the passivity and lack of presence of mind from one or another monk and Joan herself. Scenarios and environment are relegated to a secondary plan practically nonexistent. At the end of the film, the population at first anxious for the inquisition circus, only and just after Joan is burned, begins a riot of redemption against the guard, a historically fantastical event without any source that proves it.
The film, in cinematic terms, is very crude, with nothing innovative at the technical level. However, it achieves its goal of managing to transmit the unfairness of the trial and conveying Joana's sense of connection to God, especially in the accompanying music version that nicely complements the expressions of actress Maria Falconetti throughout the process, making the viewing experience a little more sentimental. But the history of this martyr goes far beyond a trial that here represented does not capture the essence of her personality or the remarkable achievements that led her to this fateful point of her life. Assuming that the spectator is already familiar with the story of Joan of Arc, it lacks the character development in the historical context so that we can identify with it properly, which portrays a trial purely for rancorous and patriarchal reasons, and although this is true, there were also political interests that are never mentioned, revealing an obviously biased work that tries to acerbate dogmatic religious fervor even more. Therefore, this film fulfills its tendentious goal in a very crude way but nothing more than that, leaving much to be desired, and only out of respect for this historical figure I do not score it less than 4/10.