Monday 19 March 2012

The Seventh Seal - Can You Cheat Death?

Released in 1957, The Seventh Seal (original title Det Sjunde Inseglet ), a Swedish film is worth a watch. Directed by Ingmar Bergman, a brilliant director, the film was based on a play written by himself for the acting students.

The film starts with two men returning to Sweden after fighting in the crusades. The  knight Antonius Block (Max von Sydow) and his squire Jöns (Gunnar Björnstrand) seem to be good and brave people. Antonius Block is a clever chess player and is very intelligent. One day while they are resting, Antonius as usual starts to play chess alone. It is there that he encounters Death. Death(Bengt Ekerot) is dressed in black cowl and has a monk like appearance. Antonius is unafraid of dying but he still has some unanswered questions about life and wants to seek their answers before he can die. He somehow thinks that if he can challenge Death into playing chess with him, he can delay his death. Death agrees and thus the great game starts.

Also in the film are many characters who somehow get connected to Antonius Block and Jöns as they continue their journey ahead. Death keeps appearing in middle to play its chance and then goes off.

Nomadic actors , Jof (Nils Poppe) and his wife Mia (Bibi Andersson), with their baby son, Mikael, and their actor-manager, Skat(Erik Strandmark), who perform from village to village join Antonius on his way. Skat during a particular show charms a black smith wife and manages to run away with her. The blacksmith joins the Antonius and actors only to find his wife returning to him and Skat tricking him and running away.

The fate of these people now is in the hands of Antonius now, as the visits of Death are increasing and at the same time Antonius knows he cannot defeat it. The movie continues further with the journey of these group of people as they go to Antonius' castle to be safe from the plague which is spreading and people are dying like insects. Antonius knows the plague sooner or later will take their life by coming in the form of Death.

In spite of Death cheating Antonius to give out his strategy , Antonius manages to stay in the game and later cheats once. Things like Antonius quests for finding the truth of life, the actor Jof's strange visions, a woman who is to be burnt as she is accused of being a witch, the Dance of Death at the end, etc enrich the film's story.

A completely awesome movie where language forms no barrier, is certainly a movie which I would recommend as a must watch for you all mortals who are reading this.

15 comments:

  1. Sounds like Final destination :)
    never heard of this one...
    good for sharing !
    Dee...

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    1. Its a lot better then that...In fact its not even right to compare it with Final Destination. :P
      The Seventh Seal is an epic.

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  2. It's really great of you to write about a Bergman movie. A wonderful surrealistic film.

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    1. Thank you, Arun.
      Bergman was a genius. :)

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  3. I can't say about myself but my brother will love this movie. Will tell him about it. Thanks Vinay!

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  4. Seems different. i used to see movies of different languages and enjoy them. One that i particularly remember is a german movie."other peoples lives' The learning factor of movies of different countries is that these movies reveal a lot about the country and its different customs which sometimes can really surprise us and believe a little less adamently on our own ways of living. :)

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    1. Thanks for such deep insight...
      Movies are truly a reflection of a society or country..Its all about 'what people think or how they live or how they want to live or what they like or what they enjoy'...I mean movies are mirrors of the people who make them as well as those watch them...They teach a lot. :) :)

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  5. I sometimes wonder how you have the patience and passion to be writing the review-like things of movies and books...But you are doing a great job! Never knew a movie like this existed..Will try wathing! :)

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    1. Its something I enjoy. :)
      And I've always loved to discuss about and persuade people to watch/read the movies/books that I like...
      But still I am lazy, in spite of watching minimum two movies a day, I blog about hardly 4-5 movies a month. :P

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  6. The plot is intimidating..!! and so is ur narration.. i would watch it sooner..!!

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    1. Thanks for saying that...Yes it would be worth a watch. :)

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  7. Nice.Will give it a shot:).

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