It sees Joan as a 15th-century basket case, motivated as much by her need for revenge against the invading English as by her love for God and France. The film commences with the brutal attack of the English upon her small village and her witnessing the murder and rape (in that order) of her older sister by an English soldier. The trauma of the experience becomes a key part of the teen-aged Joan’s passionate crusade who has heard God's call to save France from the English.

According to the voices, she is to lead her country's ragged army into battle and, after victory, witness the coronation of the dauphin (John Malkovich) over whatever the English and Burgundians have left of France.

The film has many gritty battle scenes, with a midst of swinging swords and boiling oil, giving a feeling for the era's deadly close combat. After a failed attempt to re-take Paris, Joan is captured by England's Burgundian allies outside the walls of Compiègne. She is transported to Rouen, where she is imprisoned and tortured before being brought before a tribunal. The result of her trial for heresy and witchcraft is a guilty verdict. The penalty is to be burned at the stake.

So How Does This Transfer Hold Up??

VIDEO
The DVD distributed by Columbia Tri-Star is absolutely reference quality. The video transfer is amongst the very best I have seen to date. The detail is stunning, with deep rich colours with no distracting grain or other film artifacts. The result is amazing and really shows off the films attention to detail from the stunning cinematography to the detailed costuming and sets. This is DVD authoring at it’s best. The transfer is anamorphic and framed at 2.35:1. The disc is RSDL with the feature running 152 minutes.

AUDIO
The disc contains an English and a German Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track. I listened to the English version, the mix is like the video, fantastic. It’s very well balanced and not over bearing with great frequency response, excellent imaging and detailed channel separation. The bass is also clean and very , very deep at times.

EXTRAS
Extras are plentiful which is fantastic to see. This is an even greater achievement by CTHV considering this is not even a Special or Collectors Edition. Included is:-

1. A 24 minute behind the scenes feature on the making of the movie with cast & crew.
2. Original Movie Trailers
3. 5.1 Isolated track of Eric Serra’s musical score.
4. Talent Profiles

Overall a decent enough movie on a fabulous disc, kudos to CTS. I do recommend a rental first unless you have already seen the film. Personally for me it doesn’t hold much of a repeat viewing attraction. But if you think it’s a keeper in your collection then there is nothing about the DVD itself which could possibly hold you back.