Product Description

Joan Of Arc: Child Of War, Soldier Of God An illiterate peasant girl, Jeanne d’Arc emerged at 17 from an obscure corner of war-torn France, rallied a demoralized army and changed the course of history. Inspired by "her voices," she stunned the English invaders, brought about the coronation of the Dauphin and dazzled even her persecutors with her wit and grace. Now go beyond the image of this legendary heroine and discover a fascinating young woman struggling to achieve her own vision in a brutal and dangerous world. Running Time: Approx. 60 Minutes Color/NTSC/Stereo 05-51626

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13607 in DVD
• Brand: GOODTIMES/GT MEDIA
• Released on: 2006-05-30
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 60 minutes

Features

• Joan Of Arc: Child Of War, Soldier Of God An illiterate peasant girl, Jeanne d Arc emerged at 17 from an obscure corner of war-torn France, rallied a demoralized army and changed the course of history. Inspired by "her voices," she stunned the English invaders, brought about the coronation of the Dauphin and dazzled even her persecutors with her wit and grace. Now go beyond the image of this legen

Customer Reviews

The Warrior and Saint
Based on the actual testimony of Jeanne d'Arc, this marvelous film is part re-enactment and part documentary, combining quality acting and cinematography, and interviews with people like Siobhan Nash-Marshall, author of "Joan of Arc: A Spiritual Biography," and Kelly DeVries, author of "Joan of Arc: A military Leader." It also shows paintings from the era, and the resemblance of the actors to some of the artwork, especially Michal Havelka, who plays the Dauphin Charles, is remarkable. Lucie Vondrackova's portrayal of Joan is moving and believable, and Tomas Karger is excellent as Alencon. Anna Paquin does the voice over as Joan, and Alfred Molina pulls the story together with his narration.

Producer/director Pamela Mason Wagner has brought the many dimensions of this account into a cohesive one-hour docudrama, which was presented by Faith and Values Media for the Hallmark Channel, and filmed in France and the Czech Republic. If you know nothing about Joan of Arc, you will learn a lot, and if you are familiar with the life of this incredible saint, whose strength was her submission to God's will, you will appreciate how well her story has been told.

Joan was only 13 when she started to hear voices guide her, and 17 when she became a warrior for France. This illiterate teenager led an army, stood her ground against Bishop Cauchon's difficult questions for weeks, and changed history. In a closing statement, the narrator states "Joan's story is an inspiration to anyone who believes in following your Voice, even if it consumes you."

The DVD Special Features include a biography, timeline, and "Important People and Events," but you need a PC capable of playing DVD-ROM to access them, which I do not have, so cannot comment on them.

Also highly recommended for further viewing is Carl Dreyer's silent masterpiece "The Passion of Joan of Arc."

Joan of Arc: Peasant Girl, Child of War, Soldier of God
I'm a major fan of Joan of Arc or as she was once called Jeanne d' Arc. Jeanne was a mere peasant girl who lived in War torn France; but at age 17, she rallied a demoralized nation and changed the course of history forever. There have been many excellent movies and plays about the life of Jeanne; but, in my opinion, this one is the best. It is based upon Jeanne's writing and also upon the historical records of the time. It doesn't take the liberties that many other presentations have in the past.

This presentation stars Lucie Vondrackova as Jeanne and she does a masterful job at capturing this historical heroine's quest to stop the English invaders, coronate the Dauphin, and save France from invaders; while helping the viewer to discover a fascinating, idealistic and innocent young woman. One of my favorite actors, Alfred Molina, provides the historical narration for this 56 minute presentation; while Anna Paquin gives provides Jeanne's voice.

Inspired by "her voices", young Jeanne struggles to achieve her own vision in a brutal and dangerous world. Many scholars offer their insights about this young woman's quest. I highly recommend this movie.

A Disappointment
Unfortunately having read much on Joan's life, this movie does not bring out the wonder of the accomplishments that Joan was able to perform with the help of God on the battlefield to the great amazement of her generals. There were things she new and predicted that could not have been anything but divinely inspired. This movie misses all that and is far too brief, frequently missing the best points of key events and staying too long in the mundane. I wish I could recommend another movie in its place, but they all fall far short of the books I have read about her. Pick up Mark Twain's Joan Of Arc book to start with and you will get a much better appreciation for the miracles and fiesty personality of this great saint. Twain's book can be appreciated by all ages as with most of his books. Twain claimed it was one of his best books and he spent years in research for it. Look also to anything by Régine Pernoud for excellent historical information on Joan and proves Twain did his research very well. Don't use this movie to find out about Joan. It does not place her in the best of light and was a disappointment to me.