Product: The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (Region 2) (1999)
Rating: 1.0
Terrible, terrible movie.
There honestly isn't much I can say in favor of The Messenger. The acting is terrible, the technical elements are a mess, and the movie leaves to many critical elements unexplained. Worse still, the movie claims to be 'The Story Of Joan Of Arc,' but utterly ignores the historical evidence on Joan.Unlike so many other bad movies, the horrendous technical elements make this movie almost unwatchable. Le Hire looked like a refugee from Mad Max. Some of the buildings look like they were designed by amateurs. The church, for instance, near Orleans was actually shorter than Joan on horseback while the castles sported bizarre chutes designed to drop cannonballs onto invaders. Even minor details, such as the ever-changing color of Jovovich's hair show nothing short of sloppy continuity and bad design.Bad acting only complicates the situation. Milla Jovovich, inexplicably, maintains the same expression throughout the entire movie - up to and including during Joan's burning. Ms. Jovovich has said that were Joan alive today she would be sitting in an internet cafe sipping coffee. Unfortunately, such utter misunderstanding carries over into her performance. Her performance manages to portray Joan as a delusional maniac with zombie-like expressiveness. Le Hire was portrayed as a caricature of a barbarian and lacked any real sense of definition. The only decent acting jobs were by Tommy Lee Jones and Dustin Hoffman. Jones put forward a solid, if somewhat lacking and one-dimensional, performance as Charles. While I don't agree with his interpretation of the character, I can appreciate the skill that went into creating the role. Hoffman was simply superb.However good Hoffman's portrayal was, it brings up one of the serious problems in the movie. His role is never explained, let alone supported historically. He shows up in Joan's cell, questions her actions (it should be noted here that the directing here was really distracting, particularly the frequent cuts from the cell to the brightly-lit exteriors and back), and somehow turns in a very good performance. He brings a lot of class to an underdeloped, pointless role. It should be noted that this is the only high point in the movie.My biggest complaint with The Messenger is that it claims to be 'The Story Of Joan Of Arc' and bears little to no resemblence to the historical record. Despite theories to the contrary, Joan was no fanatic - this charge was never even made by her enemies - and that is what the movie insists on portraying her as. Similarly, the entire motivation for Joan's actions, the death and rape of her mother, is pure fabrication. Isabelle Romee, Joan's mother, actually survived Joan by almost 20 years and was instrumental in getting her daughter's condemnation lifted. Artistic license is one thing, but if you want to tell 'The Story Of Joan Of Arc,' actually *tell* the story rather than resorting to utter fiction.The lesson here is to avoid movies made simply to showcase the director's girlfriend. That's why The Messenger was made and it further illustrates the lack of respect the director and cast (Hoffman and Jones excepted) had for the material. Its false claims to tell a historical story are dangerous and irresponsible, while bad elements and design make for an unpleasant experience.