Painfully Inaccurate
This movie is so painfully inaccurate, one could assume it was written by someone who not only has no notion of who Joan of Arc was historically, but also has no reverence for her as a saint. Joan of Arc had two brothers, not a sister. Domremy was not attacked by the Burgundians or the English, as it was already English territory. Joan heard the voices of Saint Catherine, Saint Margaret, and Saint Michael. Saint Catherine, and Saint Margaret were the dominant voices. She also spoke of the voices comforting her, not terrorizing her for following their direction. I despise this representation of Joan as a broken, pathetic, and incredibly insane antihero. Anyone who has given the time and thought to reading her trial transcripts would know that she was so much more than this film could possibly pretend to portray.
Doesn't Represent Jean d'Arc
I have read like three books on Joan of Arc and I have seen the mini-series on NBC, starring LeeLee Sobieski (I love you!). Everything I have seen or read about Joan of Arc, Jean d'Arc, was better than The Messenger. Joan was a kind, wonderful person but this movie made her look like a maniac that should be put away. Though I have to say Milla Jovovich played a wonderful crazy person. Joan's visions weren't even correct. In the movie she saw some man that looked like Jesus, while in life she saw Saints, such as St. Catherine. The war scenes were gruesome, but I liked them; they were realistic. Another thing wrong was how Joan found her sword. She didn't find it in a meadow, as if someone dropped it there and she found it. Her voices told her that the sword was in St.Catherine's temple around the alter, so she sent some of her men to the temple and they found it buried by the alter just as she said. No one else knew it was there before. I was so upset after watching this...
Brilliant filmmaking with a fatal flaw
This is a rather irreverent and disturbing look at the life of Saint Joan of Arc. The portrayal of her early life was very good, giving her a sincerity and piety that made the child Joan an attractive character. However, once Milla Jovovich took over as the teen Joan, she became a raving lunatic. Clearly, this was no accident. She and director Luc Besson are husband and wife, and it is obvious that this is their combined interpretation of Joan.
The problem with this portrayal was that Joan was made to be appear so demented that she lost credibility as a believable character. Her belief in her voices was depicted more as mad fanaticism than unshakeable faith. Personally, I have no problem with this interpretation, since I am more apt to believe her voices were the result of an unbalanced psyche than the voice of God. The problem I have is believing that anyone, even in the 15th century, would give an army to someone who is so obviously over the edge. Moreover, it is a...
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