The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Ark

[voltes5]

I have never seen this movie before and I got it for $9 at Target. I just watched this movie last night, and I loved it immensely. Milla gave a wonderful performance and her interpretation of Joan was quite intriguing. The battle scenes were definitely brutal and quite bloody. I just regret not being able to see on the big screen. Has anybody else seen this movie?

[Stew]

Yes, and I must say I didn't enjoy it.

I thought the film tried to get deep into Joan's head, but the effect wasn't that great. Depending on how you interpret, the film sort of undermines her status as a saint and truly spoken to by God. It reduces her "visions" to more schizophrenia than anything else.

There's also plenty thrown in to confuse and horrify IMO. The creepy, bloody Jesus figure I thought was pretty over-the-top, as was the murder/rape of Joan's sister.

The film betrays her final act of glory and sacrifice. Instead of it being a conscious decision to die rather than confess, the film has her flip-flopping and seeming more confused and tricked than determined and at peace. Sort of like Luke screaming as he drops from the antenna rather than falling silently by choice.

[Jacob Singer]

I'm with Stew on this one, voltes5. Great cinematography and production values, but I thought Milla was awful, and I could never conjure up any empathy for her at all. The film would jump from bloody action set-piece to psuedo-religious mumbo-jumbo and back again so often it was hard to get a grip on what the filmmaker was trying to convey.

Plus, the Joan of Arc mythology has never been all that interesting to me.

However, I have to admit, my roommate went bonkers over it, and the DVD I bought him was a huge hit.

[voltes5]

Probably one of the main reasons I loved this movie is that I had no previous expectations about Joan of Arc (I mean, look, I misspelled "Arc"). I also really have no further background info about this historical person, except that she was a young French girl who was burned at the stake for heresy.

With that, I enjoyed the interpretation of her character. It made Jeanne more "real" and more of a tragic AND heroic figure. I also took a liking to the "shock" moments (such as a bloodied and evil Jesus). It does challenge the Christian faith, but the film does explore whether God permits ANYBODY to murder another human being. If there is a God, I bet he/she/it won't condone such a thing. In that regards, that's what I meant by Jeanne being "real." Dustin Hoffman was my favorite "mysterious" character in the film.

But my gore-curious part of me truly enjoyed the battle scenes. It blows away both battle scenes of "Braveheart" AND "Gladiator." Besson really did a great job in this department.

[Russell Lucas2]

voltes, knowing that you are a keen appreciator of the finest that film art has to offer, I need only tell you that once you have tasted Dreyer's The Passion of Jeanne d'Arc (available in an awesome DVD SE from Criterion), all other pretenders to the throne will melt away. How Dreyer was able to get so deep inside the emotional core of Joan's story and her quandry by use of only the actual trial transcripts as the basis of his screenplay...how Dreyer was able to plumb the absolute deepest depth of all the theological and philosophical issues you mention without the need to create extra characters (real or imagined) to do so...how Dreyer did all of this without the use of sound...these are the questions that leave me slack-jawed when I watch his masterpiece.

How's that for hyperbole? Get this one, and I'll watch my copy again, and we'll have a kick-ass discussion.

[Stew]

Well voltes, is that was your only past knowledge of her, I can understand why you'd like the film a little more. I myself, knowing of her status as military leader and saint, found the sort of shock value "re-imagining" of her and her convictions pretty offensive.

And not to get too off movie task, in the Bible God orders the armies of David and many others to kill and leave no one left of their enemies who have betrayed and gone against the word of God. Also, translated to the original Hebrew text, the commandment "Thou shall not kill" more closely translates to "Thou shall not murder". To say God makes no distinction (killing is killing) is to say that he counts all the soldiers who fought to stop Nazi Germany just as bad as any cold-blooded murderer. And that's clearly not the case if you study the Bible.

But, back to the film. I liked the battle scenes at times, but through a lot of it I just found them pretty depressing. Its like all the goriest moments of "Braveheart" without any of the honor and heroism that made it all okay. It seemed more like, "See what all these sick medieval weapons do!" than anything.

[Tony Ryan]

Dreyer's The Passion of Jeanne d'Arc is pure classic silent cinema.

Watch it.

As for Besson flick, no thanks....

[Russell Lucas2]

..all this praise for it, Tony, and we haven't even mentioned the name Falconetti yet.

Man.

[Tony Ryan]

Mlle (Maria?) Falconetti should of been in more flicks. She only did this one right?

She was Joan of Ark, Mia has nothing on her.

[Chavez]

Let me chime in with another "no thanks" to this flick - after the inventive, fun film that was The Fifth Element I went in with fairly high expectations and ran into a film that isn't even mediocre. Jovovich never really conjures up much sympathy or gives any glimpse as to why one would follow Joan of Arc;

I agree pretty much with Stew's assessment. Subpar.

[D. B. Cooper]

I agree with Voltes. I think it's a pretty good movie and I like Milla's portrayal as Joan. It casts doubt on what she really was, and I thought it worked well, in that regard.

But compared to The Passion of Joan Of Arc, there's no contest.