Joan of Arc: silent historical film
Plot kick-off: The inquisition of Joan of Arc.
Characters/acting: Character dialogue was based on (may have been exact quotes from) the transcripts of the trial. Probably because the months of trial and what happened after were condensed into less than two hours, I had some problems with abrupt changes in characters' actions/motivations. The lead actress just seemed dazed and confused to begin with, but at other times she seemed to slip into a trance, which when combined with the score, was very effective -- it seemed as though her voices drowned out the horrors around her.
Cinematography: Certainly an upsetting film to watch at times: not just the bleeding (below), but the intense close-ups of the enraged inquisitors shouting at Joan, the glimpses of torture equipment, the tilted, skewed camera angles (especially during the riot).
Score: The screening I saw at Wolf Trap was accompanied by "Voices of Light", an amazing score written by Richard Einhorn after seeing this film at the Library of Congress (I don't know what the original score was like). Performers included the National Symphony Orchestra, the University of Maryland Chorus, and a European group, Anonymous 4. The composer combined texts from the trial, the Bible, and visionaries and mystics of the times (e.g., Hildegard von Bingen) to create another layer of meaning along with the pure beauty of the voices. The next two days after the screening, I woke up hearing the music from the burning, and can still call it and other parts back. Hopefully this says more about the score than me! :-)
Violence/gore/language: Hard-to-watch scene of Joan being "bled", presumably for her health, looked more like torture to me.
Skin/situations: None.
Analysis: I don't know how the film would have been without the score I listened to, but the two together combined to make a powerful experience.
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