Product: The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (Region 2) (1999)
Rating: 2.0
My opinion...don't bother....
I have seen three films based on the life of Joan of Arc, the Ingrid Bergman film from the late 1940's, the video verison of the recent mini-series and this one, and this is, by far, the worst of the three. Historically, it is a farce, (Joan did in fact have a sister named Catherine, but she was not in any way harmed by the English, in fact, Joan's village apparently only suffered one minor raid during the entire war)...Bishop Cauchon, far from wanting to "save Joan's soul" was the spearhead of the plot to completly discredit her and have her burned. Neither did she sign with an "X"one of her letters to the English garrisons around Orleans still survives in a museum and the signature,Jeanne, which is what she called herself is plain...All period sources agree on how even tempered she was, becoming upset only on very rare occasions. The Joan of this film seems closer to a lunatic than the peasant girl who led an army. I will admit that the costuming is superb, as good as any I have ever seen. Joan's spiritual side in this film is almost non-existent, shown only by her requests to hear Mass during her imprisonment. As it stands, I only give this film two star based on the cimenatography and the costuming...The great "Joan of Arc" film is still to be made....