The Passion of Joan of Arc Reviews

(OK) More experimental than any other thing, close ups trying to replace the dialogues wich are so great because of its documented preservation; great in the brink of the silent art agony...

La pasión de Juana de Arco y la belleza de la santidad

Juana de Arco es uno de esos personajes que marca historia. Dividida en multitud de versiones.
Desde la historia que todos conocemos de ella siendo guiada por gracia divina para liberar su pais.
Hasta la creencia de que era una ezquizofrenica genio reprimida. Lo cierto es que la Santa es uno de esos personajes historicos que maraviilan, desde pequeño su historia me a causado gran fervor, y me he puesto a investigar sobre ella sin parar.

Algo me he dado cuenta es lo tergiversado que esta su historia y para resumir ire a desmentir de una buena vez.

1) Juana fue quemada por la inquisicion.
R: No. Es ciero que la Doncella de Orleans fue ejecutado bajo rito inquisitorial, pero en si jamas se hizo arrsto de cierta forma. Juana es quemada en la hoguera para que los ingleses probaran que una hereje era heroina en Francia, y que Dios no los queria fuera de dicho país.
2) Juana pens que iba ser salvada
R: Si y no, Juana al final entendio su martirio y lo acepto como gracia de Dios, fue fiel hasta el final a su amado cristo.

Habiendo terminado de responder esas distorsiones, puedo al fin proseguir con la pelicula.

Hay que entender que hablamos de una pelicula de 1929, muda, en blanco y negro y con todas las limitaciones de la epoca, aun asi bajo la direccion de Carl Theodor Dreyer se maneja un aire mstico, a pesar de las dichas limitaciones. Este aire mistico sera importante mas adelante.

Maria Falconetti hace una de las mejores intepretaciones que he vistoe en el cine mudo y hablado, su actuacion transmite el dolor de la santa con tanta precision, a la vez que varia entre momentos de extasis y alegrias de la Doncella de Orleans. De esto se trata la actuacion, de transmitir mas alla del habla, con expreiones, con lagrimas, con risas, con miradas. Bajo este aspecto la actuaccion es algo que dificilmente se ve, y mucho menos en estos tiempo. Grande Maria, grande.

Volviendo al aspecto mistico que mencione, muchos acusan a la obra de ser protestante y critica a la iglesia católica, es cierto que la crueldad de los curas que juzgan a Juana es innegable, y a veces exagerada, pero no creo que critica al menos de forma muy explicita al catolicismo como tal. Dreyer respeta el catolicismo de Juana en su deseo de recibir los sacramentos. ser enterrada segun sus costumbres y de su fe. Para mi solo refleja la crueldad de algunos curas, que desplazaban a Dios por sus posiciones políticas, todo se reduce a lo ingles, y al hecho de que Carlos VII rey de Francia no era digno de Dios por rechazar la invasión Inglesa. Ademas se muestra la variedad de curas al haber algunos que se rebajan a la Santa, llamandola de tal forma, y algunos llegando a sentir piedad por ella. Tambien Juana al dudar es humana, y luego al afirmar su fidelidad a Dios y aceptar su martirio es admirable, ese abrazoa la cruz casi me saca las lagrimas.

Una pelicula limitada, pero aun asi, una maravilla de otros tiempos.

A film of faces. A tapestry of close ups. A story told with minimalism and grace. Joan of Arc’s trial and execution is one of history’s worst instances of the power of government over the individual. It’s an important tale to tell, filmed by Dreyer with quiet compassion and intense intimacy.

Intimate intensity may seem like an oxymoron but, as this film proves, this is not always the case. The simplistic approach, relying primarily on close ups and faces to tell the story, allows for intimacy. A closeness to the action. Like we’re all there. Yet it’s this same intimacy that leads to intensity. We feel the metaphorical spotlight. We feel the fear, fervour, fire. We feel the trial.

Beyond the stylistic attributes, there’s a timeless theme at the root. An important one to note, too. Oppression at the hands of a malevolent state. The persecution of the individual. The person against the mob. To say that Joan was killed by religion would be erroneous. She was killed by the forces of government. It is now regarded as a sham of a trial, performed for dubious secular reasons. They used religion and the concept of canon law to get rid of someone who posed a threat to their goals, despite the fact that according to such laws Joan was innocent. Nonetheless, biblical law was cited to justify her execution. From this, one can conclude that it is Joan's version of faith, not that of the prosecution, which is the purer representation of Christian principles. We don't need to be religious spectators to see that.

Again, this film is one of the best arguments against state interference in both the lives of individuals and in religious matters. It's timeless because even today, all across the world, liberty and the natural right of freedom are being infringed upon and vehemently defended with equal measure. Indeed, Joan was fighting tyranny when she was captured. This film makes an impassioned plea to its viewers, through the face of Joan, against such malicious forces of oppression.

Joan's courage, devotion and strength is fully realised by Falconetti's shattering performance. It is often cited as perhaps the best female performance on film. Beyond that, some would even say the greatest performance full stop. Well, it's hard to measure such subjective feats but it is certainly up there as one of the all time bests. Praise should also be extended to the rest of the cast. They too offered devotion to the film, fully complying with Dreyer's strict policies and the hard work required to obtain this film's ambitious and striking realism.

It's crucial to observe, however, that the minimalist approach doesn't necessarily mean that the film is lacking in little flourishes or is restricted in style. There are plenty of shots that are complex and inventive in technique. Particularly some glorious tracking movements filmed some 30 years before Kubrick and 40 years before Scorsese. One reason this film ages so well is that it isn't really dated by anything except its lack of sound and colour. If this were coloured and dubbed (not that such a thing should ever happen), it'd be practically indistinguishable from modern day films. Nonetheless, the silence and beautiful black and white cinematography give this film an ethereal boost. Interestingly, there's also the option to watch this film completely silent, without even a score. Some think of this as a benefit, others prefer to watch it with music. Regardless of your choice, The Passion of Joan of Arc will no doubt touch you.

This film, nearing it's 90th birthday, is a timeless classic. A film in which ugliness and beauty, bad and good, death and life all come together to play. They fit alongside each other on the puzzle known as the human experience, presented here in all its glory and shame.

Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of silent movies, except for those awesome comedies starring Charles Chaplin but since this movie is a huge classic, I was really eager to check it out. Well, it was quite mind-blowing and it really deserves its reputation as one of the best silent movies. Indeed, if nowadays, movies are dominated by huge blockbusters with some wall-to-wall CGI, well this movie is the complete opposite. Indeed, this movie is rather minimalistic and focuses on the trial of Jeanne D’Arc, so it is mostly indoors dominated by the dialogs between Jeanne and the juges and you barely get a glimpse of the (allegedly) really expensive decors ordered by Carl Theodor Dreyer. From the moment that Maria Falconetti shows up on the screen, I knew she was something else. Nowadays, her performance is still considered as one of the best ever given on the silver screen and it was indeed really impressive. You can imagine that Dreyer must have messed her up pretty bad to get this numb expression, her face is one you will never forget. This movie has also many layers. From an historical point of view, you can see that the Church, a powerful political force at the time, felt threatened by this girl who was amazingly popular among the French people and argued she had a direct connection with God. You can also read that it is a tale about Fanaticism. Fanaticism from Jeanne who goes to war after speaking to God and Fanaticism from her judges who will kill her because she doesn’t follow their dogma. To conclude, it is a great classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.