Tuesday, September 23, 2008

The Seventh Seal

Not so long ago did I write a post about Prof Isak's First Dream from Wild Straberries. Today, I got my hands on his another chapter on film making. The film's named, The Seventh Seal (1958). As most of his films, I needed a book-reading exercise after watching the movie. Here is an excerpt from that chapter,

Outside a church, Tyan, a girl accused of casuing the plague by having had relations with the Devil, hangs limply from the stocks. Although she has been tortured nearly to the point of death, the terror-stricken inhabitants of the parish are not yet satisfied: to demonstrate their faith in God, they have decided to burn her at the stake. In her own terror she has conceived faith as resolute as theirs --- not in God but in the Devil, who, she is convinced, will save her from the flames. Her professed intimacy with the Devil prompts the knight to ask for an introduction: "I want to question him about God. He, if anyone, must know." When the "witch" tells him he will find the Devil by looking in her eyes, Block, seeing only fear, is disappointed. And yet, in a sense, his question has found its answer. Fear generates not only Tyan's Devil but also the God of those who persecute her --- and the greatest fear is that, beyond life, there is only void.
This scene, definitely reminds me of Wild Strawberries.

Few directors can leave one so much disturbed, and in so many different ways. And I guess, that's the victory for the artist!

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