First, let me be clear: I am in no position to judge the historical accuracy of Luc Besson's The Messenger. I do have a degree in history, but my focus on 20th century American history didn't give me any specialized knowledge about 15th century France, and I know only the broad outlines of the story of Joan of Arc. Therefore, my comments about this film are limited to analysis of the story it tells, not to how realistic I do or do not believe that story to be.

Overall, I really liked The Messenger. It's a long film (about 2.5 hours), visually stunning in places, and well acted, particularly by Milla Jovovich, who I think is in her best form ever as Joan, and Dustin Hoffman, who plays Joan's conscience/the voice in her head. I find John Malkovich extremely disappointing as Charles VII, but it is made up for by a fantastic Faye Dunaway as Yolande D'Aragon and great work in smaller roles by Vincent Cassel and Desmond Harrington (who looks more like Johnny Depp than Johnny Depp does at this point). I found it engaging, heartbreaking, and only although it was infuriating in terms of racial and gender relations, that's hardly surprising for something set in the 1400s.

All that being said, I'm only inspired to give The Messenger two stars. Jovovich does a fantastic job with what she's given in the role of Joan, but I just don't understand Joan of Arc as a feminist icon. She's a fervently religious child who sees her sister raped and murdered before her eyes, then grows up (a bit, she's still in her teens) to lead French armies to victory on behalf of (future) King Charles VII, all the while taking no responsibility or credit for her own actions, saying she's on orders from God. Then, when she becomes a liability and sounds like she might start thinking for herself, King Chuck sells her out to the English, who try her as a heretic and burn her at the stake. Before she gets her martyr's death, though, we're shown her repentance for what basically amount to the sins of being a thinking and feeling human being, including the desire for vengeance against her sister's killers and pride. To top it all off, she's not even sainted by her beloved church for 500 years after her death. So, basically, she's a victim, first of the English army, then of her own government, then of the English again, and always of a nasty patriarchal church and faith. I don't find inspiration in that, only extreme sadness.

The movie has moments of triumph for Joan, and a few times where you can't help but be in awe of Milla-as-Joan's determination and single-minded dedication to her cause, but there just aren't that many of them, and they don't carry you far enough away to forget that Joan is never able to fight just for herself, or even for her people, but she's always under the mantle of a King, either of France or of heaven. While I fully acknowledge that in Joan's time, the fact that she was fighting at all was amazing, the ends to which her fight came to, and the myths in which it was shrouded, don't leave me with a girl power feeling at all. Rather, I'm just sad for her.