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Passion The of Joan of Arc Film Series #1 The film The Passion of Joan of Arc begins during the trial of Joan of Arc. This assumes that the viewer has some background knowledge of Joan of Arc's story. However, even without such knowledge a critical and interested viewer would be able to discern what is happening throughout the movie. A draw-back and a highlight of the film is that it is a silent, black & white film from the 1920s. Not many casual movie watchers would find this film interesting or even note-worthy in comparison to other black & whites or silent films. For an analytical movie watcher this film can defiantly be rated with Casablanca and Citizen Kane. In The Passion of Joan of Arc, Joan is a nineteen year old, illiterate French peasant girl who is being tried by the top Catholic clerics for heresy. For all of these limitations, she keeps her wits and refuses to sign a confession of heresy until she has been verbally and physically harassed to complete corporeal exhaustion. Even then she shortly after retracts her confession because she says she cannot lie before God. She is then taken and tied to a stake to be burned. While she is burning, the crowd decries her execution and rebels against the guards. In the end, Joan dies and the crowd is forced from the castle. In the background of this are some very strong bits of cinematography. First and foremost, all of the actors in the film were stage actors not film actors. They were therefore, trained to exaggerate their facial expressions and body movements. This fact is brought strongly out through the many close ups in the film. Joan in particular has several great close-ups were the viewer can tell through just the extra-wide eyes that this is a young girl, overwhelmed and terrified by all that is happening around her. Symbols are also used very well in the film. Three instances stand out the most. The first is when Joan is led back to her cell and on the floor is a shadow of a cross formed by the bars over her window. This shadow is later blotted out when one of her judges comes to persuade her to confess. The next is when Joan is about to die. She sees a flock of birds, quite possibly doves, come to rest on the church steeple. As Joan dies the birds fly away, presumably to take her soul to heaven. The last is during the mob protest to Joan's execution. The picture of a woman carrying a lamb away from the violence flashes across the screen. It could be interpreted as the need to save Christ, the Lamb of God, and the pure faith in Christ from the corruption and bureaucracy of the Roman Catholic Church. This is defiantly a film worth seeing. It can and probably will be rather dull to a casual viewer. However to those who understand cinematography it is truly as wonderful as many of the great classics of Hollywood. It has no flashy special effects, awe inspiring sets, or engaging dialogue. It is however, the symbolism and use of exaggerated expression are what makes this film great. These things are also what will preserve this film for later generations when the hit movies of today are gone.

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