"The Seventh Seal" was directed by the famous Swedish director Ingmar. A fantasy film directed by Bergman in 1957. The so-called fantasy movie is that the movie contains a lot of magic, supernatural events or fantasy creatures. Ingmar. Bergman's films mostly use simple images and a somber rational spirit to explore a series of issues such as life and death, faith and truth, and he has also pioneered many artistic expression methods, such as metaphors, symbols, and the fantasy mentioned above, which he often uses to express the difficulty of communication between people and the loneliness and pain of life.
If you must label Bergman's films with a characteristic label, it is a "philosophical proposition." Bergman was a prolific director who directed many films in his life and won many awards, such as "Fanny and Alexander", "Wild Strawberries", "Emptiness and Can't Breathe", etc., including of course, "The Seventh Seal", which won the title of the Palme d'Or and the Grand Jury Prize at the 10th Cannes Film Festival.
Promotional images for the film
"The Seventh Seal" tells the story of the Medieval, the Crusader knight Bullock returned home with his attendants on the Crusade, when the Black Death was raging in Europe, and Bullock was faced with people's misery and suffering, and his heart was full of questions: Does God really exist? What is the nature of death? Bullock decides to gamble a game of chess with Death, and agrees that if he loses, Death will take him and everything around him. On the way, the clown family's blind love allowed him to see the happiness of the world. Bullock returns home and sees his wife, who has been waiting for him for ten years, and death arrives with him. Death took Brock and the 7 men around him, who danced black on the mountain beams in the distance.
The film's name, The Seventh Seal, is heavily religious, and it is taken from a prophecy in the last chapter of the New Testament, "Revelation," which describes the end of the world. Director Bergman uses a large number of poetic lines in this film to make the film more artistically beautiful, and through the fantasy figurative expression method, the god of death is transformed into a black-clad and white-faced human form, which vividly tells the audience what the secret of death is. Of course, the theme of this film is not only "death", but also the search for faith and truth, but also reveals the opposite of death, how people can live happily.
Movie Stills - Bullock and Death against each other
Bullock participated in the Crusades for ten years in order to believe, and on his way back to his hometown exhausted, the God of Death appeared, followed Bylock all the time, ready to take him away at any time, so what is the point of the black-clad Death that constantly appears in the film? What is the relationship between death and death? Through the relevant plot of the play, we analyze the following layers of meaning:
First of all, death is an embodiment of death, and death is more often a religious name, which is not only a simple death for believers, but also carries a mystery unknown after death. Why does Death follow Bullock all the time, except that Bullock is deeply trapped in the terrible Black Death and is about to die, he wants to know the secret of death. In the dialogue and confrontation between Bullock and death, under his bitter questioning, death finally told Bullock that "I am ignorant" and that there is nothingness behind me. This is equivalent to saying: Death has no secrets, it is very simple, Death is death.
This was undoubtedly not a huge blow to the devout religious Bullock, and it seemed to be his own inner thoughts about the hidden meaning of death. This actually reflects the director Bergman's own inner voice, is there death in the end? What's behind death? Finally, he tells us the results of his thinking through the death of the personality: there is no death, only death.
Movie Stills - Doomsday Grim Reaper
On the other hand, the reason for the constant appearance of the god of death coincides with the background of the story, which is the apocalyptic prophecy of the seventh seal, the opening of the seventh seal, and God will re-baptize the world. It was coinciding with the black death in Europe, a disease that was originally transmitted by the plague spread rapidly in Europe, and people died quickly under very painful circumstances. The Black Death was also true in history, when it directly reduced the population of Europe by a third.
In the context of the end times, the god of death descends on earth, no doubt foreshadowing that a large number of human beings will die in this catastrophe. We see the terrible Black Death in the film, where people form teams and constantly whip themselves as they walk, torturing themselves with endless pain and atonement for their sins, not only to get rid of God's punishment, but also to spread the disaster of this cleansing for God's rapid propagators, hoping to be redeemed after death.
The appearance of the black-clad Grim Reaper is a warning that people are about to fall into death when the end of the world is coming, and it also reveals the meaning behind death through Bullock's questioning, which represents a piece of nothingness.
Movie Stills - Doomsday Black Hawk
Bullock's answer to the god of death undoubtedly made him question the existence of God, he walked into a church on the way, and told the confused and struggling in his heart over and over again to the statue of Jesus who was suffering, he hoped to get God's revelation in the most difficult time; he hoped that in the most desperate time, he could hold God's warm hand and give him strength, but his confusion was: no matter how he prayed. God has never appeared within.
As Bullock faced with the terrible sickness and suffering of his hometown, as a devout Christian who could endure ten years of suffering in the Crusades in the name of God, he felt an unprecedented powerlessness, and if God did not exist, it would be a mockery of his ten years of sacrifice. So, from within him comes a sincere voice that craves knowledge and craves truth.
Movie Stills - Knight Bullock and his retinue
In order to solve the doubts about God in the heart, he was very interested in encountering a witch who was about to be burned to death on the way, the witch claimed that she could see the devil and God, Bullock eagerly stepped forward to ask, the witch said you can look me in the eye, but in fact, Bullock did not see anything, plus The handsome attendant next to Bullock kept prompting: This woman is dead, who will take care of her children, is it God? Or Satan the Devil, no one will come. This plunged Bullock even more into a deep confusion, and he might have genuinely believed at this point that God didn't exist.
It can be said that Bullock has paid too much for faith and for the God in his heart, as his attendants in the film say: "In the ten years of the Crusades, snakes bite us, insects sting us, beasts attack us, barbarians hunt us down, poison and poison us, women tempt us, all in the name of God, only a dreamer can think of this stinky and stupid idea." "Bullock was completely confused in the face of the pain and despair brought by the Black Death in front of him, where was the God in his heart? Throughout the film, the knight Bullock is shown struggling with faith and truth.
Movie Stills - Brooke who struggles with his heart
Under the huge shadow of death, the helpless Bullock finally saw a bright ray of sunshine in the shadow of death, which was the beauty and warmth of the world brought by the clown family of the troupe. Through the depiction of the clown, the film tells people how to live happily, and tells people that it is not God who expels death and pain, not people's self-punishment, but people's love for each other, love for life, and have a good heart.
The Joker and her wife always lived in a strong atmosphere of love and happiness, even if they lived in a simple caravan, even if the Joker was bullied and insulted by the bad guys, they never gave up their enthusiasm for life, always treated life with a relaxed and cheerful attitude, and entertained Bullock and his attendants with the most sincere kindness.
When Bullock said melancholy to the clown's wife that he could not get along with himself, he did not expect such an obscure state of mind, but let the clown's wife suddenly see the essence of this kind of thinking, "people like to live with themselves", I have to say that this is the wisdom of understanding life that only the most intuitive and broad people have.
Movie Stills - Happy And Joyful Joker and Wife
In the warm and beautiful sunset, Brock and everyone sat on the grass, eating fresh wild strawberries and fresh goat's milk hosted by the clown family, and listening to the clown singing to everyone and writing songs. This beautiful and happy scene is like Bullock himself said, "It will be the most shining moment of my life". When he understands what the most precious thing of mankind is, he has to face death more calmly and wait for death without regret.
Life and death are inevitable, only a period of time during which the dark background of death sets off the brilliance of life,-- Santayana
Death is both terrifying and mysterious for human beings, we cannot predict and control death, and the clown family in the film shows us how we can live meaningfully and happily before death comes, which may be the most effective way to save human beings themselves.
Electronic stills - Brooke feels the happy moments on earth
It is not difficult to see that the protagonist of the film, Knight Bullock, is a microcosm of the inner heart of the director master Bergman, because master Bergman himself was born in a missionary family, and Bergman, who is good at deep thinking, has been hovering between religion and truth all his life. This question buried in his heart was not answered exactly until the end of the film.
At the same time, Director Bergman's spokesman Bullock, at the end of the film, when Death comes to pick him up, he will pray religiously, it is clear that director Bergman did not deny the existence of God. Of course. For this proposition that belongs to the philosophical category, Bergman can only use the protagonist of the film to objectively reflect his inner doubts and struggles, in fact, it is difficult for anyone to give an answer, Bergman can only leave this question to the audience to think for themselves, which may be the key to the achievement of this work.
Film Director - Ingmar. Bergman
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I am the fragrance of flowers and plants in Spring City, listening to the wind and rain, picking chrysanthemums on the South Mountain, hoping to send you a relaxing and interesting time