Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints’ On Fox Nation, Where The Filmmaker Examines People Who Had Unshakable Faith In The Face Of Danger

In the eight-part series Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints, the acclaimed director examines the lives of eight Catholic saints, all of whom had unshakable faith in the face of danger. Scorsese narrates each episode, which has scripted reenactments, and then has a brief panel discussion with theologians, journalists and clergy. Four episodes will premiere over the next four weeks, and the other four will stream in the spring, during Holy Season.

MARTIN SCORSESE PRESENTS: THE SAINTS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: After a shot of a stained-glass window with eight saints on it, the camera pulls out to show Martin Scorsese, who says, “These are the stories of the saints.”

The Gist: The first episode is about Joan of Arc (Liah O’Prey), who in 1429 was instrumental in helping French forces drive out the British during the Hundred Years’ War, but was captured by the British, tried in ecclesiastical court and burned at the stake.

Joan heard voices from a young age, and as her faith grew, she realized she was hearing saints — St. Catherine, St. Margaret and St. Michael — that she would be the ones to lead the French to victory. She insists to a helpful member of France’s court that she dress like a man, for that is the way the saints told her she present herself. She manages to appear before Charles (Jeremy Gillet), the Dauphin, i.e. the King’s eldest son, to plead her case. The Dauphin believes her, but has her checked to make sure her purity is intact.

She was unusual in that, even though she led French soldiers through fierce, bloody battles with the British, she would tend to and pray for wounded soldiers on both sides. Her efforts not only drove the British out, but led to Charles being crowned king.

When the British captured her, though, they put her through a number of ecclesiastical trials, and when she wouldn’t denounce her faith, the idea that the saints speak to her, or her manner of dress, she was executed by being burned at the stake.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? This isn’t the first time Scorsese (here an executive producer) has examined his faith, as he directed the film The Last Temptation Of Christ. The format of The Saints is reminiscent of Netflix docudramas like Queen Cleopatra.

Our Take: Scorsese has thought enough of The Saints to lend his name, his face and his narration to it, so it’s not exactly like he’s a figurehead here. But the series was created by Matti Leshem; Kent Jones wrote and Elizabeth Chomko directed the Joan of Arc episode. So if you’re looking for any signature Scorsese filmmaking flourishes here, you won’t find them.

That being said, the series does a good job of putting the conditions that each saint was working under in historical context. Yes, they were all eventually canonized as saints by the Catholic church, but these people — besides Joan of Arc, the show will examine the lives of Francis of Assisi, John the Baptist, Thomas Becket, Mary Magdalene, Moses the Black, Sebastian, and Maximillian Kolbe — were all human beings, with the same failings and flaws as any other human.

Joan, for instance, was a war general, killing British soldiers according to what she was told by the saints that spoke to her. It’s probably why it took 500 years for her to get canonized; what kind of saint kills people, or at least orders others to do so? But her faith in the face of extreme circumstances was what was honored by the church.

By framing the episode around her trials, though, it brings up the questioning certain members of the church had about her claims. Yes, there was an agenda there, given her victory over the British, but that questioning pervaded centuries after her execution, and the episode does a good job of bringing that to the fore.

The acting in the reenactments is what you might expect for a show like this: Some good performances, like O’Prey as Joan, and a lot of performances that feel like they’re playing to the back of a nonexistent theater. Scorsese’s panel discussion with the show’s consultants, Fr. James Frey and authors Paul Elie and Mary Karr, is informative but also on the dry side. It might have been better if the discussion was sprinkled throughout the episode instead of tacked on at the end.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: The episode ends with Scorsese’s panel discussion with Karr, Elie and Fr. Frey.

Sleeper Star: No one stood out in the Joan of Arc episode besides O’Prey, who is playing Joan herself.

Most Pilot-y Line: Scorsese’s narration is surprisingly dry; the man knows how to tell a story, whether it’s visually or verbally, and he’s as passionate about theology as he is about anything else, so we were surprised at how dull his narration really was.

Our Call: STREAM IT. There is some inherent cheesiness to the scripted parts of Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints, but the stories try to ground themselves in human reality, and Scorsese’s presents adds his gravitas and genuine curiosity about faith and the Catholic church.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.