Rating: 
Summary: Great Silent Film
Review: Wow i was totally amazed by this film. After watching it in a class,I was totally impressed with it. After only seeing it twice I am convinced that The Passion Of Joan Of Arc is one of the greatest silent films ever made. Director Theo Dreyer broke alot of conventions with this film. First he used mainly close ups to convey the story, it translates it beautifully. Second is the performance by Renee Falconetti often considered and rightfully so one of the best performances ever put on film. It is easy to see why She has such great power, Last is the oratorio written by composer Richard Einhorn entitled voices of light. This has to be the most perfect marriage of movie and music.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Achievement
Review: I had noticed that this film shows up often on the Sight and Sound ratings of the top ten films of all time. I figured that I'd never get to catch it on TV so I recently purchased a copy to see why it is so highly rated. Having seen it now, I, too, can sing its' praises. This movie was made in the era before sound and stands out as an example of how acting was even more of an art back then. The actors had to emote with their expressions since they were unable to do so with their voices. While Maria Falconetti delivers a masterful performance in the title role, the fact is that all the cast does an outstanding job. There are times in the movie where there are no dialogue panels (or whatever you call them) yet we know what has transpired. By reading the acors' faces we know not what was said but what was meant. Much of the movie takes place in a courtroom-like setting with mostly close-up views of the characters. The eyes of Ms. Falconetti are captivating along with her bewildered look of innocence. Later scenes involving the crowds and their interaction with the authorities were nearly to the level of "Battleship Potemkin". In the end, the burning of Joan at the stake reached the level of disturbance that the director no doubt wanted to achieve. I normally don't comment too much of the technical qualities of DVD's since others seem to do so well on this subject. However, I was very impressed with the clarity of the film. Given its' history (which is also available on this DVD) I was thinking I'd have to accept a lesser quality. It turned out to be so good that I was able to appreciate the skilled work of whomever was in charge of make-up. In a somewhat personal note, I watched this movie the night before my wife and I went to see "The Passion of Christ". I hadn't even considered the connection between the two but it probably helped me appreciate each movie a bit more by having seen them both so close together. I know that, on most levels, "The Passion of Joan of Arc" clearly is the better movie. However, their common thread should not be overlooked; both movies are at their best in bringing to us the willful suffering that each character went through as part of their devotion to God and their sacrifice for others. That two directors in different centuries sought to honor this sacrifice by bringing it skillfully to film makes us all the better for each effort.
Rating:
Summary: a "Passion" worth watching
Review: Since another "Passion" is currently ruling the box office, it's a good time to take stock of what faith on film should really look like. Instead of a gory splatterfest that expresses religion through physical suffering, Dreyer's film expresses a trial of faith through close-ups more beautifully rendered and morally profound than any the cinema has seen since. The shock value of physical torture could never compare with the extraordinary revelation that shines from the face of Falconetti. Too many of us assume that a movie must be good simply because it happens to be ABOUT Christ. Please. Let's judge by how well faith is conveyed, not by how sick we feel and by how many tears we cry.
Rating:
Summary: What else can be said?
Review: I'll save some space and make the following suggestion:
See this film, then ask yourself where you have seen it before. You have seen this film before. In some of the greatest films made after this, by directors who saw this film. The most visceral scenes in Spielberg's "Schindlers List" came straight from The Passion.
With the above in mind, recall that the film was made with a script taken directly and completely from the transcripts of the actual trial. How often does life lead to great art?
I would wish more often, except that that could mean something extremely wonderful - of horrific.
See this film. It is worth it.
Rating:
Summary: can't recommend it enough
Review: Joan to me is perhaps the most enticing and alluring of all the Saints in the Catholic pantheon, and this movie about her is beautiful, simple, elegant, subtle, classic, and powerful. Whether or not you're religious you will have to agree. It was incredibly disturbing, but not in the modern stupid Hollywood way using blood and guts or other disturbing graphics. You have to be intelligent to "get" it-- it's like reading a book. If you haven't seen it or have never heard of it... BUY IT NOW!!!
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the Greatest Single Achievement in Cinematic History
Review: If you have never seen "The Passion of Joan of Arc" it is probably understandable that you might suspect that many of the five star reviews here plunge into hyperbole. Understandable, but NOT justifiable. Indeed, "The Passion of Joan of Arc" is one of the most stunning and remarkable achievements in the history of cinema. Perhpas, even, THE greatest. For movie fans of today who may never have seen a silent film it might be difficult to imagine how a movie with not a single spoken word can convey such a sense of unadulterated and sustained power, yet Renee Falconetti, as St. Joan of Arc, manages to do just that with one glance then really any of the greatest actresses today can in an entire script. The many close-ups in this movie are indeed "claustrophobic" but that only serve to underscore to emotional power that this film carries in every shot, and in ever frame. But the movie itself, which really defies a more detailed description, is only half the story of this DVD. The rest are the amazing amount of bonus features that the incomparable Criterion Collection packs on here. Included is an option musical "score" of "Voices of Light" composed by Richard Einhorn who was inspired to composed it after seeing this film in the late 1980's. It is music of such haunting beauty that it stands on its own, although once you have seen it accompanying this film the two will be forever linked in you consciousness. Other features include a fascinating history of the movie (the original negative cut was lost in a fire in the 1930's and the original cut was thought lost until a print of it was discovered in 1981 in the closet of a mental institution in Norway), clips of various version of the film, restoration information, and interview with Falconett's daughter, and countless other features. The film on its own would be worth every penny of the Criterion list price. That the DVD comes with so many other features makes that price a virtual steal. Lastly, avoid at all costs any VHS copies of this remarkable film that you might find gathering dust at your local video store or library as none of them come anywhere close to doing this masterpiece the justice it deserves. Not only is this Criterion Collection DVD worth its price, it alone is worth the cost of purchasing a DVD player. Amazing and completely unforgettable.
Rating:
Summary: Essential
Review: As you would expect, Criterion rose to the occasion.
Rating:
Summary: not kane! this is the greatest film period.
Review: citizen kane, great work that it is, is not, as often claimed, the greatest film of all time. it is the passion of joan of arc. the intensity of this film is overwhelming. apparently the filming was just as much so. falconetti never made another film. dreyer frames his compositions like a rembrandt painting. the sweat, broken nails,weeping, pain, penetrating close-ups, beauty, ugliness, all add up to a filmgoing experience that will leave you stunned for days afterwords.
Rating:
Summary: Beamed straight to your senses
Review: For mankind to have almost lost The Passion of Joan of Arc forever to censorship and fire is a thought unbearable to me, for this is the greatest artistic achievement I've ever been presented to date. One wonders how much of great literature, art, and other intellectual achievements of this caliber by those of earlier times are lost forever now, never to be inherited by our and future generations to appreciate and ponder. One has to be neither French nor Christian, though it must certainly add to the experience, to be profoundly and shatteringly moved by actress Renee Falconetti's portrait of a nineteen-year-old peasant woman who laid down her life for God and France. The silent motion picture consists almost entirely of close-up frames of the face of Falconetti's Joan, of which her eyes tell so much, and I mean, viva France, so much. The saying "eyes are windows to the soul" becomes wholly demonstrated here in what I and many others believe is the greatest acting ever filmed. One learns that words, despite our time's heavy reliance, are utterly inadequate in comparison on such matters concerned here. "The book is so much better than the movie!!" and I'm the first one to blurt those words out, but how can any author, in any language, possibly express with words what Falconetti here beams straight to our senses, wordlessly? This is where the motion picture and theater can shine over literature, with a total, mutual commitment by actors and audiences alike. Whatever opinions you may have of the historic Jehanne d'Arc, and whether you go along with the multitudes of contemporary political movements who use her name in their causes, I beg you to watch this piece, in the name of humanity, for what's presented here is beyond judgment, and utterly indescribable.
Rating:
Summary: par excellence
Review: I was required to watch this movie for a graduate history seminar. I thought it would be very dry and boring, and my goodness, who wants to watch a silent film with no music?
I was very wrong.
I was spellbound.
Speechless.
Silent.
The film is like dagguerrotype. And the silence is wonderful. Much better than the crummy orchestral music that accompanies most modern cinema.
I highly recommend this movie to anyone, regardless of their interest in silent cinema or Joan of Arc.
It is amazing.
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