Almost every two years, I will concentrate on watching Bergman’s movies again, especially his "Silent Trilogy", "Screaming and Whispering", "Wild Strawberry", "The Seventh Seal", "Face" and " The Smile of Summer Night" etc. Fear is the factor that penetrates into the skin and bone marrow of Bur's movies, and there is an inexplicable fear that always follows them closely. The shadows of loneliness, gods, and alienation are looming. Everyone's soul is a cage of its own.
God is always silent. The sisters in "Silence", the siblings in "Still in the Mirror" and the priest in "Winter Light", etc., they all wander in the reality and unsolvable dreams of life. All this is related to Bergman's childhood experience. Going to church is his mission since childhood. He said that when he filmed "The Virgin Spring", he had broken away from this divine yoke. "The Virgin Spring" has nothing to do with religion. It is just a story of revenge.
What's interesting is that in "Winter Light", believer Jonathan believes that China is about to build an atomic bomb, which is a huge shadow for the whole world. For this reason, he believes that mankind will be destroyed. With this kind of fear at all times, he brought his pregnant wife to ask for the help of Pastor Thomas. Thomas said that no matter how fearful humans are, they must live and live.
Jonathan asked why he had to. Thomas' subsequent remarks made Jonathan even more desperate, so he committed suicide after he left. Thomas can't love a woman who loves him so much, let alone save a person who is full of fear. He feels that he is useless. He felt that God is always absent when humans are suffering. In 1961, Bergman set his sights on China, which had not yet produced an atomic bomb. This topic has undoubtedly touched him deeply, otherwise he would not be talking about it.
Humans seem to be drifting away, and the sense of alienation is heavier. The seemingly close ties actually contain greater conflicts. Mankind has not yet found a solution to fear. The self-limiting cage is still swelling.
Watching Bergman's movie every two years always brings me a lot of new understanding. Especially on such a lukewarm winter day, the Chinese New Year is about to come, and what is pervading is not so much the smell of the year as it is the anxiety and helplessness of the Chinese collective. 800 million people will travel. 3.4 billion people flowed to their hometowns or migrated again.
In this unprecedentedly polluted country, in any case, the people's life will always survive. Presumably this is also some kind of revelation that Bergman's film brings us to resolve our fears.
2013, 1, 28
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