This critique will look at a screen director’s use of his
film to project his contempt for religion, the religious and women. He goes to great lengths to explain a
tumultuous, tortured view of the part religion plays in the lives of its
adherents. The dialogue in the film is
very captivating and poetic. It is laden
with jarring scenes imitating the directors’ belief in the human torment that
can be inflicted by blind religious fervor.
The film maker allows his id
to run amuck in his version of women.
The image of women is paradoxical in this work. The Virgin
Mary and Jesus permeate the visions of the
characters. Women are cast as devoted
mothers and caretakers, or as untrustworthy seductresses that summon death to
befall their community due to having carnal knowledge of the devil. Misogyny is palpable in the scenes where
woman are being tortured and burned at the stake, and where they are pitting
men against each other.
The cinematographer’s ego
is in conflict about the reality of God and the relevance of faith. The character relationship between a knight
and death portraits this conflict. A knight
and his knave
have recently returned to their homeland from fighting in the Crusades. The specter of death appears to claim the
knight. The knight challenges death to a
game of chess in exchange for his life.
In a very profound scene, the knight bares his soul regarding his
conflicted beliefs about God. The knight
reveals: His indifference to mankind and
his inability to be around others. He
speaks of living in a world of phantoms and of being a prisoner of his
dreams. He wants to die. He believes God’s promises are
half-spoken. He wants to believe in God,
but he can’t. He believes God is a
mocking reality that he cannot shake. He
wants to know God, but God is silent and doesn’t answer him. Without this knowledge of God he is unable to
face death due to life being meaningless and lived in vain. He needs God in order to find meaning in
life.
Initially the knight believes that he can beat death at
chess, however, as he journey’s through the film and resolves his conflicts
with God and life, he is beaten in the end by death. This answers the director’s ego and
reconciles his conflicted views about God, life and death.
This is a thought provoking movie by Swedish director
Ingmar Bergman that really speaks to man’s eternal search for the meaning of
life.
http://senuxjohnson.hubpages.com/hub/-Psychoanalytic-Criticism-Seventh-Seal-by-Ingmar-Bergman
No comments:
Post a Comment