We’ve cancelled our screening of The Big Lebowski that was scheduled for March 23. The Dude abides…look for him in April. We still love White Russians, we just couldn’t pass up the chance to attend an exceptional event set for the same evening at the Detroit Film Theatre…Carl Theodor Dreyer’s La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc (1928), accompanied by the Rackham Symphony Choir performing Voices of Light, an oratorio written for the film by composer Richard Einhorn.

Passion is considered by many to be one of the greatest films ever made. It was thought lost for more than 50 years. After the negative was destroyed in a fire in the months following its premiere, Dreyer cobbled together a cut using alternate takes, but this too was destroyed in another fire in 1929. Miraculously, in 1981 a print of the original version was found in a closet at a mental institution in Norway.

Maria Falconetti portrays the title character in LA PASSION DE JEANNE D’ARC

The film tells the story of the trial of Joan of Arc (Maria Falconetti), a French woman born in 1412, who believed she was guided by the voice of God to lead France to victory against England. Historians still speculate about the origin of her inspiration, but there’s no question that the French had extraordinary success when she was with them. In 1430, she was captured by the rival Burgundians, sold to the English by the Duke of Burgundy, and put on trial for heresy by a politically-motivated bishop, who actually had no jurisdiction over the case. She was also denied a legal adviser. She was condemned and sentenced to die by burning at the stake in 1431. She was pronounced innocent and declared a martyr in 1456 by the Roman Catholic Church, beatified in 1909, and canonized in 1920.

Voices of Light draws from Joan’s medieval contemporaries: “Einhorn’s score is built around a series of texts by women writers of the middle ages, and brings to it both his research in medieval chant and his appreciation of compositional minimalism. The libretto is a montage of Latin and ancient French writings, and is presented with English subtitles.”

The combination of these two works of art promises to be an extraordinary evening not to be missed. La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc is showing at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 23 at the Detroit Film Theatre, 5200 Woodward Avenue in Detroit. You can purchase tickets online at the DFT site.