Product: The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (Region 2) (1999)
Rating: 1.0
Worst historical depiction ever
With certainty, others may have more egregious nominees than this one; however, this is perhaps my least favorite film ever. Which is not to say it is the least historically accurate, but it would win my vote for that distiinction as well.Jeanne d'Arc is my patron, and I watched the film in the hopes that it would provide insights that cannot be depicted in words alone. What we do know of her is that at the very least she was humble, not only in origin but in practice. She also only spoke when pressed to do so. Having met understated practitioners of humility, none of them scream like a lunatic, which is exactly what Jeanne does in the movie for the entirety. The thought that a raving lunatic would sway nobility from a local baron to the dauphin that would become Charles VII is laughable.I really cannot provide further detail because every scene entices such cringing from the woeful depiction that I conside having watched it an act of self mortification on my part.If you want a less distasteful, less distracting, less painful depiction of Jeanne d'Arc, look elsewhere.