At first, the mash-up is a puzzler: Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 silent film classic paired with a heavy metal score??? And yet, The Passion of Joan of Arc is, well, metal as hell: an unflinching look not at the French teenager’s visions of God or battlefield glories but instead her final hours before her martyr’s death, burnt at the stake for heresy. Playing Joan in arguably the greatest-ever silent era film performance, Maria Falconetti is defiant, devastating, and undeniable – total mesmerism. The Silent Light performs founder/composer Michael Formanski’s original score live. – Kimberley Jones
