TOS033 Watching the Saints-Noah and Joan of Arc
for audio: TOS033: Watching the Saints: Joan of Arc and Noah – Truth of the Spirit (podcast) | Listen Notes
Truth of the Spirit episode TOS033 Watching the Saints-Noah and Joan of Arc. Join Patti Brunner for an entertaining movie review series that targets saints. Patti has discovered that the ratings given to modern movies by the motion picture industry don’t always give the truth about the moral objections to the screening. She recommends the USSCB Movie Guide. This Truth of the Spirit episode of Watching the Saints finds the glaring flaws as Patti looks at various movie versions about Noah who was instructed by God to build an ark to save mankind from total destruction during a world-wide flood and others about a young teenaged peasant girl, Joan of Arc, who was told by God to save France by standing up for truth above destructive evil and political forces and leading soldiers into battle. By weeding out misleading videos of these characters and watching truthful stories these heroic characters you will be encouraged to follow their examples of obedience to God despite opposition by forces of evil.
Welcome to Truth of the Spirit. I’m Patti Brunner. This episode begins a new series called “Watching the Saints.” I have always enjoyed reading biographies of saints so when there is a screen version dedicated to a saint, that’s a good thing—right? Not necessarily. In 2014, Noah, that starred Russel Crowe, was so far off in biblical truth that I recommend you stay far away from this version for DVD/TV and Netflix viewings. Rotten Tomatoes said, “It has some glaring flaws, but overall, Noah is an enjoyable movie that Aronofsky deftly blends his own unique interpretation of the story with the Biblical power and mysticism.” I guess they gave him a pass for totally rewriting the truth of Noah’s story by calling it “a unique interpretation”. I felt it was such a misdirection of truth that he might as well have called black white and up as down. [Basically, that is what he did!] If you ignore my advice and watch this movie, I ask you to please open you bible to Genesis and read the truth. There is a much better very old version of Noah in a movie that starred John Houston, who directed this movie as well as lots of westerns. It covers the first 22 chapters of Genesis and is titled “The Bible In the Beginning”. I have another version names “The Bible Genesis: The Creation and The Flood” that is so boring you may have trouble watching it long enough for the appearance of Noah. I surmise that this international version has limited the speaking parts to avoid dubbing, but watching the desert sky and desert wind and desert sheep can only hold my interest in brief moments not on and on and on. Hurry up and send the rain, Lord! But old and boring are still better than the 2014 Noah.
Thankfully, it is uncommon that a bible based or saint based movie is that far off. Watching Christian movies can be faith builders. And movies about saints can show us a witness that is worth watching. Statistics tell us that more people are affected by media productions than from the pulpit.
In this podcast series I hope to steer you toward the best witness cinematic offerings.
There is a modern setting of the storyline of Noah used in Evan Almighty released in 2007. God contacts Congressman Evan Baxter and tells him to build an ark in preparation for a great flood. It is a comedy yet the bottom line shows how obedience to God’s requests, even when they sound off the wall, is always a good idea. It also gives a little food for thought in how God might have helped Noah in the building of the Ark.
Now I want to talk about Joan of Arc. ARC not ARK!
The first movie I saw about Joan of Arc was the 1948 version starred Ingrid Bergman. Ingrid was born in 1915 so she was 33 when she played the teenager saint who died at age 19. However, reviewers in 1948 did not object to this; it was — and still is — common in for an older actress to play a teenager, Ms. Bergman believed in this project so much that she willing used her own money to finance half of the movie. She was nominated for best actress and the film won Oscars for Best Costume Design and Cinematography.
The film was one of the biggest hits of the year however due to high cost it recorded a loss. I wasn’t alive when this movie was released, nor when it was re-released in 1950 with a full 45 minutes was cut. I saw the edited version on television several times after it was first broadcast on TV in 1968. In 2004, after the movie was restored, a longer unedited version was released on DVD and in 2011 it was broadcast on TV on the Turner Classic Movies. I have not seen the longer version because by 2011 I had turned off my cable due to the intrusive commercials for blatantly pro-gay and sexually promiscuous programing. I was safe for a while watching old movies channels, but then during the gay rights marketing blitz the classic movie channel began to promote “original broadcasting” with heavy advertising of objectionable subject matter during family viewing hours.
In 2007, my husband and I went on a media fast for a retreat that we then continued for many years. During that time we found a satellite service called “Sky Angel” that only had Christian programing and a conservative news network. We were quite shocked when we began to watch regular programing after the 2014 ceasing of the IPTV business.
It is like the story of the frog in the water story. If you turn up the heat gradually you can eventually boil the frog with no complaint. But if you throw a frog in boiling water, he will jump out! It’s a shame that the majority of our country has been boiled with desensitization towards immoral media programing.
We still do not have cable but use some antenna and internet programing. [Probably too much!] In one of my earlier podcasts I told the story about discontinuing Netflix which had been given to me as a Christmas present from my daughter because I had started binge watching and it caused me to do a spiritual backslide.
As I continue to review Watching the Saints, I will use my watching experiences from the theatre, DVD’s and YouTube and Formed.org. I have a large DVD library and still own a VCR player to watch some of my older movies but certainly the higher quality TV screens allow us to see the fake background artwork. I also plan to tell you more about saint watching choices on Formed.org in a future episode.
It was on YouTube that I browsed the 1999 Joan of Arc movie with Mila Jovovich rated R. The R rating is usually a tip off that this is not going to be a movie that builds faith and hope in families. The movie opens with Joan going to confession then having darkly magical rather than mystical episode where a sword appears. After being chased by dark hounds she enters a burning village where she witnesses the overtly violent death and rape of her sister, in that order. After another scene of Joan in the confessional the movie then includes a sacrileges scene of Joan getting a chalice, then pouring in wine and making her own Communion. Even an uneducated peasant girl knows that only a Catholic priest can consecrate the Precious Blood. At this point I turned this version off. Three strikes and you’re out!
I have discovered that the ratings given to modern movies don’t always give the truth about the moral objections to the screening. My fall back is the USSCB Movie Guide. http://www.catholicnews.com/movies.cfm Internet has placed the info at our fingertips even for first run movies and older movies available at other sites and DVDS & blue rays.
Long before the movie industry rated their movies, the Catholic Movie Review classified movies as “A-1” good for all audiences, A-II meant that my mother would allow me to see the movies when I was a teenager, A-III was ok for adults; A-IV meant that discerning adults needed to be aware that the movie had some moral flaws. That rating is now called “L” and the “O” “condemned” or objectionable for all remains an “O” for morally offensive. When I was a teenager, one year it was my job to look up movies in the published Catholic movie review that were playing at our local theatre and list their ratings in our church bulletin. We lived is a little town in Northeast Arkansas where no one saw first run movies. We could wait until after the Academy Awards to know what was a “hit”. In the summers we had old movies that were free in the middle of the week. Since we Catholics didn’t have Church on Wednesday nights, like our separated brethren, it was important that we didn’t go see one of the objectionable Elvis movies. In those days by the time a movie was shown on television it was edited for family viewing. Modern TV viewing omits this service on many channels.
I remember going to a movie as a young adult that was rated by the movie industry as PG. I was sickened by the storyline of a heroic choice of an abortion by the lead character. I looked up the rating when I got home and found it “O”. I caution all of you to double check the moral offensiveness of what you allow into your memory banks and those of your children who are forming their conscience. Watching objectionable subject matter that is shown not just as acceptable but as heroic and worthy has changed the moral compass of our country.
OK, off the soapbox and back to the popcorn.
My favorite film version of Joan of Arc was also created in 1999. It was first produced as a three episode mini-series and has since been available on DVD. It starred Leelee Sobieski who was 16 as she played Joan at the same age. It also had well-known actors: Peter O’Toole, Neil Patrick Harris, Peter Strauss, and Olympia Dukakis. As I watched this film on DVD I googled information about Joan of Arc’s trial and found that the movie script was using word for word from the original trial records. Joan of Arc, also known as the Maid of Orleans is considered a heroine of France and was canonized as a saint even though she was burned at the stake by England in 1431 who accused her as a cross-dressing witch and heretic. A few years after her death the Church reopened the trial records, completely exonerated her and declared her a martyr. “The life of Joan of Arc is one of the best documented of her era. This is especially remarkable when one considers that she was not an aristocrat but rather a peasant girl. This fact is due partly to the trial records and partly due also to the records of the later appeal of her case after the war when the trial was investigated and its verdict overturned. During the trial in 1431, a trio of notaries took notes in French which were then collated each day following the trial session. About four years later, these records were translated into Latin. Five copies were produced, three of which are still in existence. The lengthy investigations and appellate trial during the 1450s produced additional information about the details and behind-the-scenes activity during the process, since the 115 witnesses questioned during these investigations included many of the clergymen who had served during the trial in 1431. They gave vivid memories of many incidents that are not recorded in the trial transcript, and described how the English government had manipulated the affair.” Much of this is included in this mini-series.
Joan had visions of the Archangel Michael, St. Margaret, and St. Catherine of Alexandria instructing her to support get Charles VII crowned as king of France during the Hundred Years’ War with England. Joan dressed in male clothing and armor for her own protection and later in prison to protect against rape. She rode into battle with the soldiers and boosted the French morale. She underwent personal strife in battle and as she faced her accusers. This is a quality film winning several Emmys and nominated for 4 Golden Globes. But even more than the awards, this movie accurately portrays the teenaged saint that obeyed what the Lord asked her to do and by doing so changed the world. Don’t pay attention to Rotten Tomatoes rating of 10%. They said they didn’t like it because it was “A literal interpretation of the oft-produced biography of 15th century historical heroine Joan d’Arc”, which is exactly why I love it!
I also wanted to mention a television series that was a modern take off on Joan of Arc called Joan of Arcadia. It’s a drama telling the story of teenager Joan Girardi, who sees and speaks with God and performs tasks she is given. The series originally aired on CBS for two seasons, from September 26, 2003 to April 22, 2005. The show takes place in the city of Arcadia, Maryland. God appears to teenaged Joan in the form of various people including small children, teenage boys, elderly ladies, transients, or passersby. Joan is asked by God to perform tasks that often appear to be trivial or contrary, but always end up positively improving a larger situation. Over the two seasons, God’s influence on others through Joan’s obedience also is visible in the choices she makes and the relationships that develop with those around her. She, too, faces those who cause her strife by their disbelief. I have watched the series several times over the years and I always wish it had gone just one more season to complete the storyline where Joan faces-down another teenager who is led by darkness instead of God. The theme song, “What If God Was One of Us?” certainly helps describe the premise for the show as Joan encounters God one on one.
The Good News is that God did come as one of us, and he continues to encounter us one on one. Watching Joan of Arcadia helps us to recognize that fact.
As we look truthfully at Noah and Joan of Arc, we see two saints who listened to God when the world around them was full of evil and falling apart. Some would say that is the condition of today’s culture. By following their example of listening to God and then stepping out of our comfort zone to do what He asks us to do we can be a catalyst for change in the world even to bring God’s salvation to world and overcome evil through his grace. As Tom Rohr says in his podcast “Wonderful Life”, “one person can make a difference”.
I’ll end with a prayer I found on the Laudate app from Don Schwager’s reflection blog on Dailyscripture.ServantsOfTheWord.org
“Lord Jesus, make me vigilant and attentive to your voice that I may heed your call at all times. May I find joy in your presence and delight in doing your will.”
You’ve been listening to “Watching the Saints” – a movie review series on Truth of the Spirit with Patti Brunner. I invite you to subscribe and come back for more. With the Holy Spirit there is always more!
Amen.
Please note: There are no discussion questions for this series.
