|
The Seventh Seal (1957)
This is one of the scariest movies I've ever seen, a story which victimizes its human beings because of their mortality and retains a wicked sense of humor while doing it. We're not quite in on the joke because we are the butt of it, and as we watch this entity (simplified here as Death) stalk its prey we realize uncannily that fear is internal, life is dependent and our time on Earth is short and unpredictable. Bergman's brilliant setting recalls a place and time when people could not materialize themselves but instead lived their lives in fear of being erased, and the troupe actors of the film seem simply content compared to the other more dramatic characters bent on chalking life up to its most serious interpretation. The film is comprised of and remembered by its symbols, but the undertones behind the imagery paint much more interesting pictures; when what is most blatant is not on screen, the mind conjures up more personal ideolgy. Brilliant mise-en-scene, poetic dialogue and terrific performances by Poppe, von Sydow and Ekerot are the highlights of the picture's aesthetic treasues, but the film is most special for the way it exercises the imagination.
__________________
|