I had to watch LA PASSION DE JEANNE D' ARC also known as The Passion of Joan of Arc by Carl Theodor Dreyer for one of my film classes. The film was released in 1928 and has since gone through a tumultuous life. In the beginning credits of the film it says how the original footage was lost in a fire as well as the second negative copy. Then in 1981 an original Danish copy of the film was found in a closet in a Norweigan Mental Institution (wtf?). Go figure. Anywho, I am very glad it was found! Not only was this movie unusual and interesting, it also evoked some sort of feeling from within. Maybe regret or introspection?
Regardless of the emotion, the 114 minute film was really just one long day. The whole movie is the sequence of events leading up to Joan of Arc's death. The movie starts from the point where she is in front of a judge to the end when she is burned at the stake(sorry, I just ruined it). Typically I would've expected for the movie to start with her engaging in acts that would lead her to be before the judges, but no, the whole movie was just an endless tug of war in one location. It was like one long scene.
So, let me give you a rundown of the plot. Joan of Arc is being accused of heresy because she believes that she was sent by God to rid France of the English. It also seemed to me that in the film the judges had a problem with her dressing like a man. Needless to say Joan of Arc was relentless. She never relinquished her true beliefs that she was the chosen one. The judges went as far as to say that she was being led by the devil in her acts. Yet, in the movie we see the judges falsify a document in order to make her revoke her original statement. Plus, they want to burn her at the stake! Who is really being led by the devil?
Anywho, I, myself have battled and played my own tug of war with my belief in God. I've been an atheist then agnostic then spiritual and now back to agnostic. Some may say "who cares", but my lack of belief in God, especially in high school had earned me distrust from others. I had a boy tell me multiple times that I was going to hell because I did not believe in God. I was ganged up on and somewhat coerced into going to church with friends. My dad is Jewish and my mom is Christian, but I never grew up with the stories of God. For a while I knew nothing about either religion. It didn't matter because I believed in evolution.
Now how this all relates to the film...
Well Joan of Arc was persecuted for her somewhat different beliefs, yet she still held in common with the judges and other commoners her belief in God. But they burned her. Burned her flesh to ash because it did not correspond with their exact idealogies of God's will. I believe there is a lot of hypocrisy in religion, not to mention, unlawful killing in the name of religion. Many times I have seen people preaching on SFSU and CSUF campus and I have mocked them and considered them ridiculous. I hate them. I do not need to be saved. You professing the word of God in a public place is certainly your inherent right, but something about it makes my skin crawl. I don't need someone to tell me what is real and what isn't. What is God and what is the devil. But, as I watched this film I said to myself, "maybe I am no better than those judges, laughing at Joan in her convictions, her passions, her everything." I also turned it around and said what if it is the world laughing at me for my lack of beliefs. Whichever way it is, I felt a passion I have never known for the adement believers. Who am I to judge them and who are they to judge me? I still don't agree with the whole preaching on campus thing, but I suppose I have a new respect for people who are concrete in their faith. I mean there is always a double edged sword. Look at the people who are so deep in their faith that they attach bombs to their chests, murdering senselessly.
I don't know if there is an answer to all the thoughts and questions, but I have a new respect for people who believe in what they want to despite what others say. Of course there is a limit to this and I still don't want you to tell me about God unless I ask you, but still. I found the film heartbreaking and enlightening.
I suggest it very much so. Don't be turned off by Joan's over exaggerated stares.
It is free to watch on Vimeo
here is the link... http://vimeo.com/25035903
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