La passion de Jeanne d'Arc (1928)

La passion de Jeanne d'Arc (1928)

Wow! Movie-making history and mostly even historical (except for a few interpretations and anachronisms like eye-glasses). The commentary is well-worth the time. We watched the movie with the optional and beautiful musical score sung by Anonymous 4 even though the director intended for it to be watched without sound. The musical score was synchronized recently (relatively). The movie I had was borrowed from a friend and contained a booklet with the translation of the songs. I don't know if the rental version would have that.

The director, Carl Dreyer, was described by a cast member as "certifiable insane." That might explain the use of real blood in the blood-letting scene (noticeably less difficult to watch for certain licensed medical personnel in attendance the other night than for certain squeamish husbands). He also used real nursing mothers, but then so did The Wild Bunch (1969) which revolutionized movie-making by using real bullet sounds. Not much of a connection, but there it is.

For those who won't watch the commentary first or read the authoritative Wikipedia article ever, let me enlighten a few things that would have helped me understand what was going on.  The soldiers in the English-looking WWI helmets are actually English. In character. I have no idea what they were for real but the general is played by an actor who owned the inn where Rasputin held his orgies. The reason the helmets look like WWI-era is because that's what the commentary says the helmets in 15th century English-occupied France may have looked like. Also because English helmets are like English cuisine--unchanged in 500 years. No wonder they had to conquer the world; they were sick of their own cooking.

The Catholic priests are going to evoke disgust but then last week's report of the decades-long abuse in Ireland by priests and nuns should evoke enough disgust for a lifetime It might help to know that that the actors were well-known on the French comedy scene. Also, the actress who plays Joan was famous on the same stages. She got even more famous in 1972 when Patti Smith wrote a poem about her.

The director shot the movie chronologically and in almost the same amount of time as it took for the trial to take place. He insisted that everyone remain available and that the priests keep their topnotchers shaved even if they wore a yarmulke the whole time. He made a point of using no make-up. It works. Tremendous power in the acting.

It is not true, though tempting to imagine, that Dick Cheney played a role in the trial which of course included a trip to something that could well have been a waterboarding  station.