This is a story of a young girl Joan of Arc, who believes herself as a messenger of God and leads the army of France. When she is captured by the English army, she is sent to the trail by the Church. There she refuses to accept the accusations made by the Church and she stays true to the mission of Victory over the English.
If we see the plot we expect many war sequences and many great historic moments as the story is set up in that period. It has also got a greater scope to the intense drama for the trail and when Jeanne is taking decisions for the country. But all we see are some boring dialogue scenes and uninteresting parade scenes.
The planning of the battle is done on some random deserted lands, where we see some old people wearing some dunes and some metallic armors to make themselves look like the advisors and warriors. This type of setting is seen almost everytime they plan for the war.
When Joan is left alone to take a decision on the war and she listens to the voices in her head claiming them as the God's voice. But it was her own decision which makes things move on. There is an immense scope for the development of the emotions in this scene and drama where her internal turmoil can be potrayed beautifully. But here we get is her solid rock face and some uninteresting song in the background. This song almost plays for 4 minutes and this definitely makes you get bored.
Even after they decide to attack on the English army, they start with a parade. This makes us to expect something epic. But the horses keep on moving in the direction of '8' finally this parade runs for almost 4 minutes. This tests our patience. All the wars which happened in the history are just explained in the text form and this killed the excitement. Even when the trail starts we expect some things to happen. But the comic way of it's narration ruined the drama.
The artists are another set back for the film especially the protagonist Prudhomme. Her face lacked the ferociousness which is needed by this character. No need to even think about the rest of the cast.
What is really good about the entire film is the costumes and the Church for the trail sequence. Cinematography is top notch. Except for these two aspects it is a dull film and sloppy attempt.
Bottom line: Joan of Arc is not quite funny enough to be funny, or serious enough to be serious, or passionate enough to be about the passion of Joan of Arc.
Review of Joan of Arc
