The War Room

INGMAR BERGMAN RIP

The beauty of Bergman's work was that he was able to explore the most complex of ideas through the simplest of stories and images. Many Bergman films can be broken down into very simplistic plot descriptions, but the dialogue and subtext was everything.

My favourite is The Virgin Spring, but even his misses such as The Serpent's Egg could give you something to contemplate for days. I remember renting Cries and Whispers when I was very young based on a review from Roger Ebert. It was unlike anything I had seen and made me want more, even though I did not fully comprehend it in my early teens.

Bergman's gift was that he was genuinely inquisitive, genuinely thoughtful and genuinely made you think because he was a thinker.
His films gave the impressions of dialogues. You could hear what he was saying but never feel he was preaching to you.

Though he constantly worked, his key period from the late fifties to the early seventies is one of the most productive in film history with regards to output vs. quality.

He raised the bar very high.

If you have not seen an Ingmar Bergman film ever, I suggest The Virgin Spring or Wild Strawberries as a good place to start although his most famous is The Seventh Seal.

One could make a very real argument that he was one of, if not the greatest filmmaker who has yet lived and contributed to the artform.

May he rest in peace.

posted by Nicol DuMoulin @ 10:34 AM