Ultimately, Joan's refusal to submit to her judges results in her state murder. She is burned at the stake, becoming a martyr for French freedom. The French riot, and are beaten back by brutual soldiers.
How others will see it. The Passion of Joan of Arc was controversial upon release, unsurprising given its negative depiction of the Roman Catholic Church. It met with a mixed reception. The New York Times acclaimed the movie, while Variety panned it, likely influenced by its poor box office promise. The movie was a financial failure in the short run, although its eventual acclaim ensured that Dreyer's many future movies would be made and evaluated favorably. The Oscars ignored it entirely, unsurprising given its European origins.
Today, the movie is widely regarded as Carl Theodor Dreyer's best, and perhaps the greatest film of the silent era. For example, it was ranked #1 on a list of essential films ranked by the Toronto International Film Festival. At imdb.com, the film has a very high user rating of 8.4 out of 10. It must be said, though, that women over 45, the least impressionable demographic, grade it a much lower 6.0 out of 10. 35% of women over 45 grade it just 1 out of 10, apparently in no mind to watch a strange young woman get bullied for an hour, and then burned at the stake.
How I felt about it. No one can doubt the religious motivation of Carl Theodor Dreyer. He was a true believer, rather than most directors, who merely attempt to make a film that will prove profitable for the studio. Thus, Dreyer spent a lot of money making a movie that could have been made inexpensively. Dreyer's attention to detail pays off, and the film is highly watchable, even though we all know Joan's ultimate fate.
The film claims that the script is taken from court transcripts, which is probably mostly correct, but nonetheless misleading. Watching the movie, one would believe that the trial lasted a day or two, but it actually spanned three weeks. Joan first faced burning two months later, on May 24, and was finally burned on May 28. Joan lived six months in English-controlled custody.
Much of the film appears fictional. For example, the French public holds an impromptu festival when Joan's execution is initially commuted, and a riot takes place following Joan's death. These scenes intend to demonstrate that the French people loved Joan, even the French who lived in areas long occupied by the English. The clergy interrogating Joan are depicted as elderly, ugly, and deceptive. The few clergy that sympathize with her are young, earnest, and handsome.
Ultimately, then, it is a propaganda movie intended to make us feel sorry for the poor imprisoned Joan, instead of the tens of thousands of people who died in the battles she promoted. In that respect, it differs from Dreyer's Day of Wrath (1943), in which the young and beautiful woman burned at the stake may actually be a witch, and in any event has selfish instead of spiritual goals.