Product: The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (Region 2) (1999)
Rating: 3.0
Saint or Heretic?
That was the dilemma for those who were dealing with the real-life Joan of Arc, and it remains so in reel life in "The Messenger".I had got some free passes for this movie; my friend John was glad to come with me and my sister because he knew something about it. I guess what he knew was that IT WOULD BE VIOLENT, which is often a powerful motivator for menfolk. Well, okay, so it was violent--what of it? I think the essential value of this movie is that after you see it, you have a fairly accurate idea of how medieval warfare was conducted, how men had to rev themselves up for terrifying hand-to-hand combat with a truly mortal enemy. This is not a women's picture, no.Some things annoyed me about this picture. In the early pillaging scene, we see Joan is a little preteen girl. I thought, hey that's great, for once Joan is going to be a GIRL, you know, not a woman. But then we cut to the Dauphin/John Malkovich's castle where everyone's talking about the imminent visit from this strange visionary. She arrives, throws back her hood, and .... she's some other actress now! I really hate that kind of thing. This is a crucial scene; I have to trust my protagonist, and I don't even know this dame! She was also doing a lot of weird, border-line things that made you question her sanity. I don't think the real Joan comported herself like that--no one would have followed her into battle otherwise.Another problem was that a famous part of the Joan story is that she hears three saints' voices talking to her; they're the ones who inspire her to fight against England's invasion. But this Joan meets up with Christ himself, and later, with Dustin Hoffman.Lowdown on "The Messenger": if you like authentic-feeling fighting, then rent it for that. If you want something else--like veracity--then get out the encyclopedia.