Thursday, November 18, 2010

Joan of Arc

As previously stated, this is the made for TV version, not the horrendous The Messenger starring Mila Jovovich as a crazed nut job pretending to be St. Joan.  Anyway, the good version stars Leelee Sobieski as Joan and a number of solid B list actors such as Robert Loggia as her hometown priest, Powers Booth as her father, and Neil Patrick Harris as the Dauphin.
For those who may not know the story, here's the short version.  France's very existence is threatened by the English and has been for sometime.  The king is not even the king as he cannot even make to Reims to claim the crown.  But there is an ancient prophecy attributed to Merlin that in France's darkest hour, a from the region of Loraine would rise up and unite the nation.  Joan of course is the maid and at the age of seventeen and under the guidance of St. Catherine of Alexandria, St. Michael the Archangel, and  St. Margaret leads an army under the authority of the king to raise the siege of Orleans.  She succeeds and has a number of other victories, enabling Charles to claim his crown.  However, after a disastrous attempt to take Paris, she is betrayed by Charles and is taken to England to be burned as a heretic.  Later, her case was retried by the Church and she was exonerated and five hundred later was canonized a saint. 
There is much more to it than that and for a more detailed account I strongly recommend Mark Twain's biography of her published by Ignatius press.
In any case, the movie seems to get it mostly right, taking the miraculous nature of her life at face value.  Such miracles included of course the voices of the saints but also the finding of a sword behind the altar in a church dedicated to St. Catherine and her vast military knowledge (you only get glimpses in the movie though.  Twain's book is again far more detailed).  The movie presents all this faithfully, avoiding both cynicism and sappiness.
The acting is solid all around with my only complaint being what I would consider to be the miscasting of the character Jean Metz (if I remember the name right).  The guy just didn't seem to have the right look, but this is a minor complaint.  As for other minor complaints, the battles and general production values are made for TV and not Hollywood but that is to be expected.  Bottom line is that this is a good and faithful representation of St. Joan's story.  You should get yourself online and buy it now. 

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