This is how Bergman accomplishes his mission. That is the expression of death. This expression has three aspects, one is the god of death, who is the main cause of death. One is the knight and his friends, who are the recipients of death. One is the circus performers and their beauties, who are fleeing death. These people had believed in God, but in the face of absolute death, they doubted their beliefs. Because of doubt, the uncertainty of accepting doubt. This burden is a burden.
Episode 1: The knight fights the god of death. Death said he was a good chess player. Apparently, Death was saying that he was a good gambler. The stake in this game is not the death of the god, but the knight's, that is, the life of the knight. In a gamble, the chips are all made by one of them. This is the greatest injustice of death.
Scenario 2: The servant said to the knight that there were rumors everywhere. Two horses ate a horse, and there are four suns in the sky. This is the harbinger of the end. People go crazy with fear. This fear stems from the horrific vision of Judgment Day. And the basis of this end-time madness is the ravages of the plague.
Episode 3: The servant asks for directions, but passersby don't answer. Pedestrians are dead. The servant said that this private person was well-spoken and serious. Apparently it was rooted in the servant's sense of humour. This sense of humor is rooted in a fearlessness of death. This fearlessness is rooted in the essential insight and rejection of death.
Episode 4: The circus actor says he saw the Virgin Mary. Note that the feeling at this time is that the surroundings are very peaceful. This tranquility is the essential modality of religion. Listeners do not believe it. The wife does not believe her husband's words and thinks it is an illusion. Communication between man and God was considered impossible at the time.
Episode five: The circus owner is a comedian who plays Death. This identity is a mockery of death. He later used a prop to fake his death, which was the second taunt. But he couldn't hide the truth in the end. Death saw him off with a scythe.
Episode 6: The priest preaches that the plague is God's punishment, and the victims flog themselves. A procession of sick people later appeared. People were moved to tears. According to Foucault, this is the same as madness, and the plague is God's punishment and manifestation. The sick man showed the power of God that even sinners could be saved. The way the priest preaches is the threat of death, but the knight does not believe it. Because he has been tested by death, and he has seen the god of death, that is, he has seen the process and the end of fate. He who knows his own existence is fearless.
Episode Seven: The Knight's Monologue. Emptiness is a mirror to see oneself captured by disgust and fear. Truth is needed, not faith. God is like a mocker. Hope to see God's face and hands, talk. Life is absurd, and God is an idol constructed to fight fear. deceived by death. These words show the skepticism of the knight. God never appears, but He always exists. This non-appearance raises suspicions. The pursuit of knowledge and truth is the first step in the human race to take its own steps. It is worth noting that this pursuit is accompanied by nothingness. This nothingness is manifested as the absurdity of life, that is, the baselessness of life, the absence of a destination.
Plot 8: The knight's servant catches a thief, the seminary student who had encouraged his master to join the crusade. The disobedience of the preacher's own behavior constitutes another reflection of the lost faith of the times. Was the crusade itself a departure? After the knight's war and death, he had a deep suspicion and disgust for the nature of jihad. A dialogue in the film: The crusades are a stupid idea.
Episode 9: The clown actor flirts with a woman. The background music is full of natural country flavor. The flirting scene between the two represents a worldly pleasure. It also paved the way for the later separation of the two. The laws of the world are never fixed and eternal.
Episode ten: The actor's humiliation. In people's eyes, the little actor is a harlequin, a person without self-respect, that is, without an independent personality. But the actor is optimistic, honest, and most importantly, full of love. Therefore, he has a happy family. His ultimate escape from Death's following stems from their longing for happiness. Throughout the film, they appear as the hope of life.
The above is the interpretation of the plot, let's take a look at some interesting conclusions.
1 The beginning of the film is completely different from the narration that follows. In the beginning, all the people, things, things, a four-person, a horse suddenly appeared. Later, after the appearance of Death, it became a complete story. Everyone's appearance is logical, and it is generated according to the needs of the development of the plot, and there is no longer a sense of abruptness.
2 A few words from the humorous knight servant:
Chinese and English: if there are women it is hell, if there are no women it is hell. Tt's hell with woman and hell without them.
English: love is nothing but lust, lust and more lust, with a lot of cheating, deception and lies thrown in. love is blackest of all plagues.
Chinese: if in this imperfect world everything is imperfect , then love is the most imperfect.
The above typesetting methods are based on the characteristics and expressiveness of the two languages.
3 The knight says: Faith is a heavy burden.
In the end, they cannot escape the dark dance of death. The beliefs they carry cannot save them. But at the same time, his knowledge could not save him. Losing the game with Reaper shows that. Death said "I am ignorant". Ignorance is the ultimate belief, and its absoluteness triumphs over the relativity of knowledge. The knight cares for those around him, he wants to fit into the society, not to be separated from the people. These are manifestations of human love. God's love cannot be manifested; man can only save himself. This is the theme of the film.
The film style is turbulent and has always been admired by Bergman fans. However, the root of this pursuit is the conversion of Western Christianity from the Middle Ages to modern times. During the transition from the Middle Ages to modern times, the significance of human existence is particularly prominent, and this is the theme of Western modernity.
From this, we can see that Bergman still grasps the film based on his era, rather than just making a historical film. The composition of its thought is entirely modern.
The color of the film is black and white. Since color replaced black and white, the meaning of the latter has gradually been forgotten. This process is only regarded as a transformation of technical means, but is not regarded as a way of viewing to be grasped. In Bergman's black-and-white film, black and white have meaning in themselves. Not only the atmosphere, but also that we will chew those serious and humorous dialogues more deeply.
It is not unfounded to say that Bergman is a film philosopher, or that he made a philosophical film. This basis is what Bergman's film contemplates. It is the manifestation of the power of thought poured into the film.
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