Joan of Arc

Luc Besson's new film, Joan of Arc tells the story of the young French peasant girl Jeanne, played by Milla Jovovich, who, in the early 15th century, boldly followed her own destiny and changed the course of history, only to be burned as a witch at the age of 19. As a young girl, she was obsessed with God, constantly needing to "be confessed", hearing voices and seeing strange visions. This was during the Hundred Years War when France was occupied by the English who, it has to be said, were completely brutal savages. When the English ravaged her village, Jeanne witnessed the murder and rape (in that order) of her sister. When she found a sword lying in a field, she took it as a sign that she was to use it for some great purpose, and after having several more visions and being instructed by God, she went to see the Dauphin. So taken was he with her passion that he granted her an army to go and free the besieged city of Orleans.

There are, of course, many legends about Jeanne, and the film is probably not historically accurate. There are those that maintain that the city of Orleans was never under siege and so Jeanne could not have fought there, and there are those who believe that she did nothing to deserve the admiration future generations had for her, not to mention her sainthood. If you believe Besson's film, Jeanne was quite insane, having frequent visions of a great inquisitor, played by Dustin Hoffman who followed her around trying to make her lose her self-confidence. I found Jovovich's performance to be a little over the top. She seemed to have tears in her eyes in most scenes, which was a little difficult to take. I know Jeanne was supposed to have been passionate, but surely not quite that passionate. Or was she? We will never know for sure.

A lot of the film takes place during bloody battles, which may not be to everyone's taste, and there is precious little material about Jeanne the person. It's clear that she was a very disturbed young woman, torn between wanting to save her country and not wanting to kill anyone. Enough to drive anyone mad, I should think.