During the more than a month of lockdown, there was an average of one movie per day. At the same time, I have basically finished reading the books that I brought back during the Spring Festival. I also feel a lot about reading the Bible recently, especially the book of Revelation. The previous chapters of the Bible are written in the past. Only the Revelation The book points to what will happen in the future. This is also the most difficult part of the Bible. There are a lot of metaphors and metaphors, such as what does the seven-headed red dragon mean? Why does God fight a seven-headed red dragon in the last days? Red, or dragon, or seven heads, seems to have some symbolic meaning. When the apocalypse comes, there is God's plan to save the world in "Revelation", and because I read the relevant chapters about the seventh seal, I think of Ingmar Bergman's classic movie "The Seventh Seal" come and see.
In God's plan of salvation at the end of the day, seven seals are to be opened, and when the sixth one is opened, it is specially written: "The earth shook, the sun became black like wool, and the full moon became red like blood." It was on March 10 that some netizens photographed the red moon in the southern Jiangsu area. This fierce homeland somehow coincides with the description in the Bible. In addition, there seem to be many visions this year, crows flying in the sky, dense locusts, glaciers growing by themselves, seagulls flying around, fish jumping on the shore by themselves, frogs in groups... and This is the plague that spreads across the world.
"When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about two hours. I saw the seven angels who stood before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. Another angel came and stood by the altar with a golden censer; Much incense was given to him, to be offered on the golden altar before the throne with the prayers of the saints. The smoke of the incense and the prayers of the saints ascended from the hand of the angel before God. The angel took the censer, It was filled with fire from the altar, and fell to the ground; there were thunders, loud noises, lightnings, and earthquakes." The Book of Revelation
In the "Bible", I have read a lot of scenes of the end of the world, but when I read it now, I have a lot of insight. In the face of a small virus, people seem powerless, and only at this time will they think of prayer. The question is what do you do in your daily life? ? Coveting the power of God, disrespecting God, and not loving others, but at the final judgment, he showed different fears. The opening of the seventh seal is the beginning of the final judgment. "Vengeance is mine, and I will repay."
Ingmar Bergman is a film master who brought film art into philosophical and theological thinking. I watched his "The Virgin Spring" when I was in college. It is also a story about sin, revenge and redemption. Thinking about ancient theological propositions with a film of modern art. There are actually a lot of articles about "The Seventh Seal" analyzing this film, from history, religion, ethnology, film and television technology, I just want to share what I have read about this film in this difficult era. Some intuitive feelings are purely personal experiences.
The background of "The Seventh Seal" is a great plague that swept across Europe in the Middle Ages. The film does not directly describe the tragic appearance of the plague, but uses people's oral conversations to feel the terrifying atmosphere that pervades the world. The hero of the movie is a retired crusader knight named Bullock, who has a companion named Joss. The crusade itself was an expedition with great idealism and religious zeal, but the failure of the crusade also had a great sense of disillusionment, which was mentioned in the dialogue behind the two knights. Bullock's repeated questions about God, the so-called witches and devils, and the God of Death are all the meanings of his inquiries to God time and time again. He represents mankind's long-standing thinking and questioning of the question of faith, and it is also the most perplexing question in many people's hearts.
Brock, who set up a chessboard by the sea, met the god of death in black. He played a game of chess with the god of death, betting on his own destiny. Before dying, he started a roaming journey with the time won by this game of chess. This is a mode of fantasy literature at the beginning of the Middle Ages. From Dante's "The Divine Comedy" to Cervantes' "Don Quixote" to Goethe's "Faust", Ingmar Bergman used The way of the film inherits the tradition of fantasy literature. At the same time, this game with the god of death is also like a metaphor for life. Each of us is playing a game of chess with the god of death. In the process of life, there is always the shadow of death. The West has a philosophical tradition of "living towards death". Since life is mortal, why should we live? We can gain some time in the game against Death, but one day we will be taken away by him. Chinese philosophical concepts are always unable to answer this question directly. Confucius said: "How can you know death if you don't know your life." For the sake of enjoyment, living is eating, drinking, and having fun, and living for the sake of living, a little sublimation is at most the emotional sustenance of the nation-state, and cannot reach a deeper spiritual dimension. The fear of death is temporarily postponed by worldly pleasures. In fact, in a sense, how to understand death is also how to understand life. The questions Bullock is asking about Death are also thinking about God.
In fact, we first came to a church, where the history of painting used paintings to decorate the church of the God of God. It is not like the paintings in the church we see today. The content of the church is about plagues and people dancing the dance of death. The painting echoes the final scene at the end of the film. After Joss himself and Brock entered the church, the conversation objects were different. Joss chatted with the painter. The painter told him that the plague was God's punishment for man. Not behaving nicely. Bullock went to the side to pray to the pastor. He longed for the meaning and revelation of life, and also repented that he had played tricks and tricks while playing chess, deceiving the god of death, but he did not expect that the priest was the god of death, and people could temporarily escape. Zed, but in the end, he still has to face the god of death.
The difference between Joss and Brock is that he does not think as deeply as Brock, talks a lot, sings songs that are out of tune, belongs to the optimists in life, has a sense of justice, saved an orphan girl, and punished a murderer and stealer. The thief, who lives his authentic secular lifestyle, is happy with his fate. When facing the god of death, he talked a lot, and said that he was a silent protest, but he was also the most calm. He did not forget to tease the god of death, and he was very open-minded.
Another important clue in the movie is the Jonathan Scarter family of three. They are a small wandering troupe. They make a living by performing burles everywhere. They live without a fixed place, and it is not easy to make a living. The thieves wanton insults, but this family is happy, positive and sunny. In an era of plague, they are still passing on happiness and happiness, feeling the changes of the four seasons and the beauty of life, picking strawberries, entertaining and getting acquainted friends, write poems, sing songs. The skeleton that symbolizes death is behind Jonathan Scarter, but even if death accompanies life, it still does not change their love for life. This family is also the family that Bullock finally attracts Kai Death to protect and save. Scarter will see the Virgin and the Holy Child, and he is also the most infrequent person except Brock. He was redeemed by grace. When the last family of three stood in front of the carriage in the movie, it seemed like the family of Jesus. It was in this couple that Bullock came to realize the meaning of life he was looking for.
The blacksmith and his wife, as well as another actor in the troupe, have an absurd love triangle. They are like countless mediocre characters in life, who have no ambition and no thinking. Life is such a life of pleasure, full of shortcomings. , but it can't be considered very bad. In front of the god of death, the blacksmith made a dissection of his life, just like the mediocre people in countless lives. Anyway, life has passed like this. On what pursuit.
There is also a scene in the movie, the witch who was burned to death, she was very innocent. She was said to be the incarnation of the devil in her body. She was like an innocent victim in every era, bearing all the guilt, and Christ Jesus was also killed. Cruelly crucified. The preaching of the truth by the priests is more like a threat of fear to the people. God loves the world and must be punished for sins, but the superstitious people led by the priests shirk their fear of death and plague by burning heretics to death. The tragedy of the scapegoat.
The last scene of the movie is also very exciting. The expressions of all beings facing death, begging God, begging God, begging death, begging death, repentance, fear of fear, mortals will eventually die, and only when death is imminent will you truly understand Are you afraid of yourself? Pity? Still living this life with no regrets.
In the midst of an apocalyptic plague that is still spreading, I watched movies about the plague and thought about death. In the past days when the city was closed, I saw many tragedies in the world, and I thought more about death and the future direction of life. I consulted my university teacher who believed in Christianity, and I discussed many issues with him every day, from history to philosophy, from philosophy to theology, and I completed some thoughts during the daily phone calls. Death reminds us a lot. It is not the busy life of making money in the secular world. Whether we are indulging in realistic pleasures or stepping into the embrace of faith, we all know that the existence of death makes the fear of death always exist, but today in the form of a plague, tomorrow In another form, and we are looking for a way out of fear once and for all, that way of redemption.
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