All language subtitles for MARTIN SCORSESE - Present The Saints - 1 - Documentary [2025]

♪♪

-These are...
Stories of the saints.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[ indistinct conversations ]

-Place your hands
on the holy gospels

And swear to tell the truth
before the lord your god.

-I don't know
what you wish to ask me.

Perhaps you might ask me
things I cannot answer.

-You must answer everything.

-Some questions I will answer.

On certain matters
I have no right to speak.

-You must answer every question
asked of you, truly.

-I do nothing
except by revelation.

-You must answer.

-I swear to tell the truth

About the things I know
concerning the faith.

-What is your name?

-Joan.

I am joan the maid.

-You believe
you were sent by god?

-Yes.

To save France.

It is what I was born for.

-Where were you born?

-In the town of domremy,
near the village of greux.

[ goat bleating ]

♪♪

-Where was the principal church?

-In greux.

-Where were you baptized?

-In the church of domremy.

My father was called jacques,
my mother isabelle.

It was my mother
who gave me my belief.

[ bell tolling in distance ]

♪♪

-Joan was born into the middle
of the hundred years war,

Which was actually
a series of wars

Over the control of
what is now modern-day France.

On the one side,
there were the english

And the french burgundians.

And on the other side,
there were the french armagnacs.

Of course,
resulting in a civil war.

And the ultimate question was --

Who would become king
of France?

-You believe god hates
the english?

-I know nothing of god's
love or hatred for the english.

But I know the english will
soon be driven out of France.

-Joan experienced the horrors
of this war.

Many of joan's neighbors
were murdered by the english,

Their homes were ransacked
and burned,

And their women were raped.

♪♪

♪♪

And it's in the midst
of this violence

That joan first heard
the voices.

[ indistinct whispering ]

[ birds singing ]

-The first time I was afraid.

After the third time,
I knew it was sent by god.

I knew it was
the voices of angels --

St. Michael, and then
st. Margaret and st. Catherine.

The voices told me
they would show me what to do,

That it was ordained by god.

-What did the voice tell you?

-That I, joan,

Must go away and raise the siege
laid to the city of orléans.

-But how?

-That first, I must make my way
to robert de baudricourt

At the fortress of vaucouleurs.

That he would give me people,
to go with me to meet my king.

I must meet baudricourt, please.

Hello, please, can you help me?

I must go in the castle
because...

Sir?

-No, no, no, no, not you.

-Please, sir, I must go inside.
I must meet the dauphin.

God has commanded me
to meet --

-For the last time, girl,
you may not pass.

Not yesterday, not
the day before, not tomorrow.

God said so.

-Please.

[ crying ]

-Are you alright, child?

-No, no.

I have no more time to waste.
No one will help me!

I have no more time.
I need to see baudricourt.

And I am the only person who can
restore the kingdom for France.

It is god's will.
I have no choice.

I have no choice.

-God willing,
I will take you to baudricourt

And lead you to the king.

To present yourself
to the dauphin,

You'll need fine clothes.

I know of a woman
at the edge of the market square

Who makes fine dresses.

-It has been revealed to me

How I should appear
before the dauphin.

-One of the messages that was
revealed to joan by the voices,

Was to dress in men's clothing.

Which was unthinkable.

Joan was finally taken to
the dauphin's castle in chinon.

Now, for security reasons,
to be undercover,

Charles always dressed
in ordinary clothes to blend in.

Joan had never laid eyes
on the dauphin,

But when she went in there,
she walked right up to him.

-Apologies, my lord.
I will remove --

-Most noble lord dauphin,
I am sent by god

To bring aid
to you and your kingdom.

I humbly ask
that you turn over your kingdom

To the king of heaven, whose
revelations have guided me here

And will continue to guide me
on the field of battle.

The lord our god
has made it known to me

That he will restore you
to your original estate.

-I see before me...A girl.

-I am...

-A headstrong girl,
clothed in the finery of a man.

What would compel a daughter of
France to do as you have done?

-Everything I do
and every word I speak now

Is given to me by god
and spoken to me by the angels.

I have been sent to answer
your most fervent prayers.

-There is one other possibility
of course.

And it must be ruled out.

-For the dauphin,
trusting in joan immediately...

This was unthinkable.

So, she was questioned
by men of the church for weeks.

And then her maidenhead
had to be verified.

Establishing her virginity
was essential.

-She is a virgin!

-You are the daughter
of a farmer.

How can you hope to deliver us
victory on the field of battle?

-I know nothing of war.

Only that I will go boldly
into combat

And leave the rest
to our lord god and none other.

-What do you ask of us?

-I ask for horses,
armor and arms

For me, and a company of men.

-What sign did you give your
king that you were from god?

-Go ask him.
-I'm asking you.

-I have always told you, you
will not drag that out of me.

If you want to know, go ask him.

-It is said that joan told the
dauphin things about himself,

That she could only have known
by revelation.

And that that's
how he came to fully believe

That she had received
the word of god.

-O god, please help us
to be brave, to be courageous.

Please grant us
strength and protection.

-Which did you like better,
your standard, or your sword?

-I liked my standard 40 times
more than my sword.

I bore my standard when we went
forward against the enemy

To avoid killing.
I have never killed anyone.

For our king! For our people!

For our nation of France!

Our god calls us to orléans!

[ men cheering ]

-No one knew how or where
joan acquired her skills --

On horseback, as a warrior,

As a military planner.

They just didn't know.

They only knew
that she had them.

And so...
They followed her into battle.

It's impossible for us today
to imagine the reality

Of medieval warfare.
It was blind fury.

Man-to-man slaughter,
from every direction.

It was pure mayhem.

[ indistinct shouting ]

Starting with orléans,

Joan and her forces
did all of their fighting

Between may and July of 1429,

In a roughly ten-mile radius
along the loire river.

[ indistinct shouting ]

And each victory

Further decimated
and demoralized the enemy.

[ indistinct shouting ]

And the turning point came
in June, at the battle of patay,

In which
half of the english army was

Either killed or injured.

[ indistinct shouting ]

Joan sent word to the english
more than once.

She was offering them the chance
to avoid further bloodshed.

-You men of England,
you have no right

To this kingdom of France...

The king of heaven orders
and notifies you through me,

Joan the maiden,

To leave your fortresses
and go back to your country

Or I will produce a clash of
arms to be eternally remembered.

This is your third
and final warning.

I would have sent
this letter more properly

But you detain my herald.
Please send him back to me,

And I will send back some
of your men we've captured,

Because they're not all dead.

Joan the maiden.

-Joan was a ruthless commander.

And it might be true that
she never killed anyone herself,

But she was responsible
for the deaths of countless men

In the battlefield.

[ horse neighing ]

After battle,

She personally tended
to the wounded --

To her own men,

And to the english.

-Pater noster, qui es in caelis,

Sanctificetur nomen tuum.

Adveniat regnum tuum.

Fiat voluntas tua...

-Joan led her army
on a relentless March north.

Her every victory
on the battlefield

Took her one step closer
to her ultimate goal.

And on July 17, 1429,
in the cathedral in reims,

Where every french king from
the 11th century on was crowned,

The dauphin was made
king charles vii.

-Deus iste famulus

Tuus coronatus

Repleatur gratia tua.

Amen.

-Long live the king!
-Long live the king!

-My king.

And now, god's will is done.

He willed that I raise
the siege of orléans.

He willed that I take you
to this city

To receive your
holy consecration,

To show that you are true king,

To whom the kingdom of god
rightfully belongs.

-Daughter of France...

Thanks to you,
god's will be done.

Daughter of France,
daughter of god.

-Do you believe
you are daughter of god?

-Yes.

-How do you know?
-The voices.

-The voices call you daughter
of god, daughter of the church,

Daughter great-hearted --

-The voices call me
joan the maid, daughter of god.

-How do you know it is not
evil spirits speaking to you?

-The voices are from god.

It is not evil spirits
that torment me,

It is you who makes me suffer.

And you...And you...

And you.

-The day
after charles was crowned,

He started a lengthy
peace process

Because he had grown
tired of war.

As a reward to joan,

Charles elevated her family
to the class of french nobility,

Which was really a way
of just pensioning her off.

Because joan
wanted to keep fighting,

But she had served her purpose.

To the king she had fought
to place on the throne,

She had become an annoyance...

And a liability.

Joan was then injured during
an attempted attack on paris,

An attack
that the king later called off

Because it interfered with his
negotiations with the english.

Then, she ran out of ammunition

And had to retreat
from the siege of la charité.

And at a battle in compiègne...

[ indistinct shouting ]

...She was finally cornered

And captured
by charles's enemies,

The burgundians.

As joan was moved
from place to place,

King charles never once lifted
a finger to rescue her,

Or pay her ransom.

The burgundians sold joan
to the english for about £10,000

And she was then taken
to their stronghold in rouen.

She was kept from going to mass.

And she was humiliated
and belittled again and again

At the hands
of the english guards

And the burgundian
and english judges.

[ birds singing ]

[ indistinct whispering ]

There was another examination
to determine her virginity.

Now, the english
and the burgundians

Were very eager to portray joan
as a whore and a fraud,

Just to shame
and completely discredit her.

-She's intact!

-In January of 1431,
the trial began --

The first phase,
which was the longest,

Was the procès d'office,

Which went on for three months.

That was followed
by the "ordinary trial,"

Which lasted two months.

Then there was
the relapse trial,

And that was over
in a matter of days.

Pierre cauchon,
who organized the entire trial,

Was an enemy of the new
french king, charles vii,

And he had personally brokered
the sale of joan to the english.

The vicar of the inquisition
of rouen

Was the only other
official judge.

The cardinal of winchester

And the bishop of thérouane
were present,

And so were the special
"assessors,"

As they were officially known,
who appointed by cauchon...

60 of them in all.

There were english
and norman prelates,

Or church dignitaries --

Masters of canon law --

There were masters
of civil law --

And there were
the special masters

From the university of paris.

Now, if it seems excessive,
it was.

Because this was not
a normal trial.

Joan was provided with no
advocate, which was her right.

Now, there were
some friendly faces in the room,

But they had to be
very careful --

They were like spies.

-Would you like
a woman's dress to wear?

-Give me one
and I will take it and go!

Otherwise I will not take it.
I am content with this attire,

Since it pleases god
that I wear it.

-In what form, size, appearance
and manner of dress

Does st. Michael come to you?

-As I have told you already,

He comes in the form
of a true and honest man.

-Is he naked?
-Do you think

God cannot find clothes for him?

-Did he tell you
that he was st. Michael?

-I saw the angels
with my own eyes

And you will get no more
out of me on this point!

-When did you last hear
the voice?

-Yesterday and today.

I was sleeping
and the voice woke me.

-And what did the voice say?

-I prayed to the voice
to counsel me

In how I should answer.

And it said to answer bravely.

It said that god would help me.

-In what way will god help you?

-I don't know. But he will.

-So, will you leave
the determination

Of all matters of good and evil
to holy mother church?

-I love the church

And wish to sustain her
with all my power

For our good christian faith.

-Answer my question --

Will you leave
the determination of all matters

Of good and evil
to holy mother church?

-As for my own good works,

I must put my faith
in the kingdom of heaven.

-Will you abide

By holy mother church
in all matters of good and evil?

-I will abide
by god who sent me,

By the holy virgin and
by all the saints in paradise.

I believe they are all
one and the same,

God and the church.

Why do you make it complicated?
It is not.

-Why?

Why do you refuse

To wear the women's clothing
that was offered to you

That would allow you
to hear mass?

-For my clothes, for everything
I have done at god's command,

I expect nothing
but the salvation of my soul.

And I would rather die

Than revoke what god
has told me to do.

-Do you believe that you are
in a state of grace?

-If I am not,
may god put me there.

And if I am,

May god keep me there.

-Her accusers' only tactic
was to increase pressure,

To break her down.

They did this
for five relentless months.

-Will you revoke
your words and deeds?

-I will abide by god.

-No, that's not enough!

-I do not understand you.

What higher authority could
there be than god in heaven?

-Where is your god now?

Has he not promised to save you?

-That does not concern
your trial.

-By revelation, you say.

He promised to come help you
by revelation!

Where is he?
-He is coming.

-When? When is he coming?

-I will be freed
by a great victory!

The voices have told me so!

-Maybe the voices
have betrayed you.

-No. This is
what I was born for.

-Since you refuse
to submit to the authority

Of the church militant,

This is your formal
admission of guilt.

This is what you must sign.

This is how you will
save yourself.

-My guilt?

-You have feigned deceitfully

To have had revelations
and apparitions of god!

You have blasphemed god
and his saints!

-Never!
-You have worn

Misshapen clothes
against natural decency!

You have desired and caused
cruel effusion of human blood!

-English blood!

-You have despised god
and his sacraments!!

-Never have I done this!
Never have I done this!!

-Do you know the punishment
that awaits

If you refuse to admit
to all your crimes?

Do you want to be subjected
to torture?

This is your last chance.

Do you want to die?

Do you want to burn
at the stake?

The blood in your skull
will boil

And the flesh will be seared
from your body before you die.

You can save yourself!

Admit your errors and sign

This document
of abjuration, now.

-I will sign it.

May god forgive me.

-In the lord's name, amen.

-Amen.

-You are spared from burning.

It is our judgment that you
spend the rest of your days

In perpetual imprisonment,

Dressed appropriately
in female dress

And weeping for your faults.

Here, in rouen!

-[ sobbing ]

[ door slams ]

[ indistinct whispering,
birds singing ]

-Why are you wearing
men's clothes again,

And who made you take them?

-I am wearing them
of my own free will.

-Have you heard the voices
of st. Margaret

And st. Catherine again?
-Yes.

-What did they tell you?

-God sent them to express
his great pity for me --

When I signed that paper,
I damned myself to save my life.

-You believe that the voices are
st. Margaret and st. Catherine?

-Yes -- they are from god.

-You told us that you lied
when you said

That they were the voices of
st. Margaret and st. Catherine.

-I did not mean to say that.

All that I said
and renounced that day,

I did because I was afraid
of the flames.

It was against the truth.

I would rather make my penance
once and for all, by dying,

Than to endure the torment
of prison any longer.

In my life, I have never before
done anything against god

Or against the faith.

In recanting, I saved my life,
but I damned my soul.

Everything I told you
during the trial was the truth,

As best I knew it.

I thought god
would keep me safe in this life.

Now I understand.

And his will be done.

[ crowd jeering ]

May I have a cross, please?

[ crowd continues jeering ]

-On this day, the 30th of may,

In the year of our lord
fourteen-hundred and thirty-one,

In the city of rouen,

I, pierre cauchon,

Appointed chief adjudicator

In the inquisition
of the woman before you,

The maid joan,

Do hereby claim
she has fallen again

Into the grave errors
she had abjured.

That she has blasphemed
and despised god.

That she has gone against nature
in her appearance.

That she has been the cause
of unspeakable bloodshed.

And that she shall be tied
to the stake,

And burned unto death.

In the name of the lord our god,
his son jesus,

And all his saints,

I pronounce this woman --
the maid joan -- a heretic,

And officially condemn her
to die this day.

[ crowd booing ]

-Thank you.

[ crowd jeering ]

[ screaming ]

[ continues screaming ]

[ scream echoing ]

-It was said that when joan
gave up the ghost,

A white dove was seen
soaring into the sky.

The story was told
that after the fire went out,

The body was reduced to ashes.

Everything ashes,

Except the heart.
Which was completely intact

And filled with blood.

So, the executioner covered it
with oil, and charcoal,

And sulphur,
and it still wouldn't burn.

The executioner
later accosted two monks

And he begged for forgiveness.

He said,
"I've burned a holy woman."

The 100 years war

More or less came to an end
in 1453,

When the french finally
drove out the english invaders.

Three years later, in the
archepiscopal palace of rouen --

After petitions and rulings
from rome,

And the testimony
of all those left who knew joan,

And who witnessed
the travesty of her trial --

Every judgment against joan
was vacated.

It was nullified.

Her fame spread throughout
France, her legend grew.

But it took about 500 years
before she was beatified

And then canonized
by the very church

Whose officers had burned her
at the stake.

Warrior or mystic?

Can anyone even answer
that question?

At the heart of absolutely
everything...Is her faith.

Her absolute, unshakable faith.

[ indistinct conversation ]

What are the procedures for,
uh, beatification, canonization?

How has that changed
over the years?

Going back, of course,

To the first century, too,
which we understand,

I think the procedure was --
there was no procedure.

-Yeah. Early on, it was
sort of popular acclimation.

And the idea was,
certainly for the martyrs,

They were considered saints.

But then as time wore on,

We went to the place
where we are now.

Which is basically,
it has to start locally.

Uh, so there has to be
a local devotion.

The person is called,
uh, a servant of god.

And then when that
is approved by the vatican,

They're called venerable.

And then when they get
their first miracle,

They're called blessed.

So that's called beatification.

And then when they have
two miracles, they're canonized.

So it's much more formal.

And the idea is that
the church wants to guard

Against the possibility
that someone would,

You know, had something
in their background,

Uh, that would be untoward...

And so a longer process
means more investigation.

So it's a long, long process.

-But isn't,
isn't there something untoward

In everybody's background?

-I was gonna say.
-Well, I mean, really untoward.

[ laughter ]
-the thing about joan,

That she was looked like
a crazy woman.

-Well, joan of arc is not
like any of the other saints.

I always think
of all the saints, she's the one

I think most people
would have trouble with today.

I mean, if francis came up,
oh -- I love the poor.

Uh, I'm working with the poor.
Even maximillian kolbe,

Who, you know -- I'm gonna
sacrifice my life.

But this idea
that I'm hearing voices,

And I'm gonna lead the army
of France to defeat England,

That -- that's a little
off putting for people.

-It is, it is.
So how do we, in a sense,

Try to reconcile the warrior
joan, with her faith?

How do we reconcile this, um...
Carnage with faith?

-I always like to think of her
as more of a liberator.

That's how I look at her.
Not, not as a warrior,

But as someone who is
delivering her people from, uh,

Under the heel
of english oppressors.

-A teenage girl,
not even from paris,

From the provinces,
unlettered...

Hears voices
that tell her to take a role

In the political affairs
of France and England

At a major time of upheaval

And winds up getting
people to listen to her

And winds up leading an army
and winds up having the claims

That she makes evaluated
in ecclesiastical courts.

It's so strange
that you couldn't make it up.

-It's the same thing as jesus.
I mean, I always wonder

What was his first talk like,
you know,

After he -- right there
in nazareth, what was his first?

-Well, they didn't like it.
They didn't like it very much.

-They hated it.
They said, he's a nut.

-You know,
I think joan is someone

Who also trusts her experiences.
-Yes, yes.

-She trusts what she sees,
and she is faithful to that.

And I think that is
very much along the lines

Of the rest of the lives
of the saints.

You know, even though they are,
uh, you know, sort of set upon

And, ignored and sometimes
opposed, they trust it.

-I always like to think of her
in high school for some reason.

-I like to think of her --
-she's the patron saint of --

-Of high school students.
-Of headstrong teenagers.

-Well, of oddball people
in middle school

Who are not looked on
very kindly maybe

By their, by their fellows.

And who nonetheless have
some love and some devotion

So deep and so pure in her.

She's probably illiterate.
I mean, she had no power.

Uh, joan the maid,
they called her.

I mean, she was feeding pigs.
I mean, what was she doing?

-And further, um, her dress.

The male dressing...

Which I'm not
an anthropologist or historian

Of the ordinary life
of people in the middle ages,

But I don't believe
a woman dressing as a man

Is gonna go over well
in terms --

-They frowned on it.
-They frowned on it.

-They still do sometimes.
-They do?

-Yeah, I hear that...
I don't know why.

-Also, the prizing of virginity.

-When she was canonized,
she was canonized as a virgin,

Not as a martyr.
-This is the crazy thing.

It took about 500 years
for her to be canonized.

I mean, what's that about?

-Also the interest
in the area for our church,

Sorry, fellas, have to say it,

Between a woman's waist
and her knees.

The fascination.
I mean, their fascination

With having to be sure she was
quote unquote intact.

-Well, the virginity, of course,
is seen as a form of purity

Back then. But also, there's
been a lot of scholarship

Recently that's talked
about, women,

Uh, retaining their virginity

As, kind of an emblem
of their power, right?

That they are, they are, they
are keeping it to themselves.

And it's not
for them to give away.

That's a kind of
revisionist idea

Of what it means
to be a virgin martyr.

On the one hand, you don't want
to elevate virginity, per se.

On the other hand,
in the patriarchal time,

You know, when a woman
was the possession

Of either, uh, her father
or her husband.

-That's right.
-It could be a radical act.

Right. Of kind of
self-determination,

Self definition.
-But the other way

She inspires me
is in her moments...

Because that's what makes me
see her humanity

And makes me think I have
a shot in my little sinful self.

That when she refuses,
you know, she signs the paper,

They cudgel her into signing
this thing -- that she was,

You know, would, you know,
was this was all heretical

And blah, blah, blah --
and then she goes back

And she's so consoled by god
that god isn't angry,

And or the voices, the saints,
catherine, michael, margaret,

Or not punishing to her,

But then she comes back
and says, you know,

I have to recant this.
I lied to you,

Uh, because I was afraid
of being tortured.

-It's a very human moment.

-But isn't that
what we all do too?

-Sure.
-Is that we get up

In the morning,
we say our prayers, whatever,

And think today will be the day
that I'm not judgmental,

Cruel, you know, unkind,
x, y, z.

And, but you have a chance
throughout the day

If you listen to that voice.

I mean, don't we all have it,
whether you're catholic or not.

-Yeah. The voice
of your conscience.

And you know,
the jesuits have a saying

That we're all loved sinners.

-Yes.
-Right? And so were the saints.

This, I mean, they were all,
they weren't divine.

Right? Uh,
they did difficult things.

They were human beings
who sinned from time to time.

So you know, the old saying,

No, no saint without a past,
no sinner, without a future.

-No. I love that.
Can I get a tattoo?

No saint without a past --

You're just giving me
so much hope, jim.

[ laughter ]

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