Blind Spot 27: The Seventh Seal

There are certain rites of passages that go along with being a film fan: certain films or filmmakers that must be seen and experienced to have an understanding of film and how we have gotten to where we are in the artform. These include the films of Akira Kurosawa, Francois Truffaut, Federico Fellini and Ingmar Bergman, to name a few. For the March Blind Spot film I watched my first Ingmar Bergman film, The Seventh Seal, and I can see why it has been such an influential film.

The Seventh Seal is a very creative film about a knight named Antonius Block (Max von Sydow) who is returning from fighting in the Crusades.  He is disillusioned and frustrated about religion, war and the meaning of life, which is understandable after such a brutal, pointless conflict. One day he meets the personification of Death (he looks kind of like what we think of as the Grim Reaper) and to avoid dying, Block invites Death to a spirited game of chess.

The story continues with Block meeting a group of actors who can’t see that he is accompanied by Death. There is Jof, Mia, and Jonas Skat. They all have varying degrees of faith and cynicism. Jof claims to see visions of Jesus and Mary but Mia does not believe her husband. Jonas is basically a womanizing cad

As the group moves along they confront the Black Death and those petrified of its power, and talk a lot about faith and obviously death. Block wants to be an atheist after what he has seen of humanity but there is always something holding him back from making that his belief system. He certainly does not believe in God but he can’t be a confirmed non-believer either so he is in a state of continual struggle and agony. He says:

“Why can’t I kill God in me? Why does He live on in me in a humiliating way – despite my wanting to evict Him from my heart? Why is He, despite all, a mocking reality I can’t be rid of?”

He goes on:

“I want knowledge! Not faith, not assumptions, but knowledge. I want God to stretch out His hand, uncover His face and speak to me”

He reminds me of a section of the Book of Mormon where a man requires a sign in order to believe in God (see Alma 30). This unfortunately is not how God works. Jesus even tells doubting Thomas ‘more blessed are they who have not seen but have yet believed’. Those believers have a power in their life, a knowledge of who they are, and where they are going in the afterlife that ,can help them face any pain or evil. It can lead to poor choices when mixed with the desires of men but it still at its core has power.

It is this struggle with faith for Block that is almost as painful as the war itself. It’s an internal war that Bergman seems envious of those who believe and ready to punish them in revenge. One girl is burned at the stake for consorting with the devil, a theologian is beaten and scarred and a band of flagellants beat themselves into submission. All of these images are meant to show the pain of faith and the envy of those who do not believe (and are usually the ones inflicting said pain).

It’s kind of what Martin Scorsese was trying to do in Silence but without any of the impact or effectiveness (I absolutely despised the torture-porn fest that was Silence). In Scorsese’s movie the faithful are selfish and unfeeling because of silence where here they all suffer because of faith one way or another. God never said He wanted weak Saints!

While I certainly do not agree with Bergman’s cynical outlook on faith and spirituality it is still an interesting one. I appreciate he asks the question ‘what will happen to those who don’t believe who die and where is their solace?” I can see how these people are envious of the faithful and in a way want them to feel the pain that they feel.

I have strong faith, but I can see how to some “faith is a torment.” To someone like Bergman, God is silent when He should be saving the world from evil but to believers God cannot violate the agency of man. If he did he would cease to be God (this is a topic for a whole different discussion). He can guide us and comfort us but He cannot force obedience.

The ending with the dance of the dead was interesting because it felt hopeful and joyous after a pretty cynical film, and I like it when filmmakers end their movie on an ambiguous note.

The only downside to this film is I couldn’t help but think about Monty Python and the Holy Grail a lot. They were clearly trying to parody The Seventh Seal in many scenes especially with the flagellants, which is basically recreated in Holy Grail. Obviously that is a little unfair as a criticism but since Holy Grail is the greatest comedy ever made it was a little distracting!

As I am not someone who struggles with faith, I don’t think The Seventh Seal is anything I would ever watch again, but I’m glad I saw it once. I loved the black and white cinematography and the creative choices. It was different and at only 96 minutes is definitely worth a watch. It is a subtitled film (in Swedish) but I had no problem following the captions.

Have any of you seen The Seventh Seal? What do you think Bergman is saying about faith and religion (or the after life?)?

Foolishness: My Favorite Comedies

Happy April Fools!  I’m honestly not a big fan of practical jokes but I do enjoy a good laugh.  I thought given the day I would share with all of you 10 of my favorite comedies.

For these 10 I tried to pick all out comedies, not romantic comedies, dark comedies or movies like the Apartment that have comedic elements.  These are roll on the ground, laugh out loud, make me laugh every time films.  Humor is completely subjective (all films are but especially comedies) so these are just what I find most funny.  You may not and that’s cool.  Instead of just critiquing my list (easy to do) share with me your favorites and what makes you laugh.

1. Monty Python and the Holy Grail- Almost everyone I know thinks this is funny. There are so many jokes and the script is so well written. Some highlights are the Sir Bevedere and King Arthur debating about the witch, the knights that say ni, the black knight with no arms and legs screaming ‘Come on ya pansy!’, The Castle of Aaaauuuggghhhh (he must have died while carving it), “Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!”…  So funny.

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2. Napoleon Dynamite- A somewhat polarizing movie that some either think is hilarious or it drives them nuts.  I’m in the hilarious camp.  Maybe partly because everyone involved is from my alma mater (for the most part) and I really relate to the rural Idaho setting?  Who knows?  It’s so likable and has one of the most endearing lead characters in modern movies so I love it.

If you haven’t read my character profile on Napoleon please do. When you really think about it he has a sad life.  They are obviously poor, his parents are nowhere to be seen, his brother and uncle are a mess,  his grandma has just been injured and he get’s rejected by the girl he asks out.  But you’d never know about it from watching Napoleon.  He’s walking around, looking at things and happy with his life.

There are so many great lines like “I told you! I spent it with my uncle in Alaska hunting wolverines!”, “A liger…It’s pretty much my favorite animal. It’s like a lion and a tiger mixed”, “How was school? The worst day of my life, what do you think?”, “You know, there’s like a boat-load of gangs at this school. This one gang kept wanting me to join because I’m pretty good with a bo staff”, “No, but who would? I don’t even have any good skills…You know, like numchuk skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills… Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills.”

When he dances and shows the ultimate confidence it is hilarious and such a great victory.

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3.It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World – The dream cast that will never be beat and the ultimate cat and mouse chase story that has every kind of humor. It’s a mad cap race to find the treasure and hilarious all the way through it. Jonathan Winters , Ethel Merman and Buddy Hackett are particular favorites. 

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It’s the kind of movie that could never be made today because the studios would be so lazy.  Movies like New Years Eve, Movie 43, and Grown Ups figure all we have to do is have a bunch of famous people and it will get folks in the theater.  They don’t have a good script or funny setups.  It’s just disgusting crass and vulgar and not funny! It’s a Mad Mad World did it right.

4.  What About Bob- What makes What About Bob one of the funniest movies ever made is it is a classic example of someone driving another human being nuts and being completely oblivious.  Bob is having a great time.  He’s happy as a clam, and he isn’t intentionally annoying, but just trying to be loving and his shrink’s biggest fan.  But the shrink played by Richard Dryfuss lets one thing get to him and then another and another until it is this huge volcano. So often in life do we allow someone to get under our skin and they are completely unaware.  That is funny and totally rings true.  Bill Murray is so likable in the role and has an innocence that makes you root for him all the while he is making Dryfuss crazy.

It is so well written with great scenes like the dinner ‘um, this corn is delicious.  Is this hand shucked?’  or “There are two types of people in this world: Those who like Neil Diamond, and those who don’t. My ex-wife loves him”. “It reminds me of my favorite poem, which is, “Roses are red, violets are blue, I’m a schizophrenic… and so am I!”

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5. Clueless- My favorite comedy for many years.  Based on Jane Austen’s Emma it tells the story of rich socialite Cher and her best friend Dion as they try to do a little matchmaking with their friends in high school.  I love scenes like the Haitians and the dinner party or Cher’s description of her diet- “I feel like such a heifer. I had two bowls of Special K, 3 pieces of turkey bacon, a handful of popcorn, 5 peanut butter M&M’s and like 3 pieces of licorice”.  Ha.

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Almost every line of this movie makes me laugh and yes I think it is funnier than Mean Girls although that is also great.  Amy Heckerling does such a brilliant job making Cher and Dion, who would be the mean girls, into likable endearing characters.

My favorite scene by far is when Dion ends up on the highway for the first time.  I love his scene because I remember when a similar event actually happened to me in high school and I freaked out.

6. Better Off Dead- this is an admittedly stupid movie but it makes me laugh every time.  It’s about this kid named Lane Meyers played by John Cusack who obsesses over his girlfriend. When she dumps him he doesn’t think it is worth living until he challenges her boyfriend to ski the K12.

The plot is really just an excuse for a lot of hilarious gags like the newspaper boy who menaces Lane for his $2, the taxi drivers who learned English from Howard Cossell, Lane’s stoner best friend who says ‘this is pure snow.  Do you realize the street value of this stuff?’, his brother who collects coupons before the cereal is done, his neighbor who is teaching a foreign exchange student ‘the international language’, his mother who is such a bad cook it walks off the plate.  It’s hilarious and I love it.

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7. Bringing Up Baby-  This movie starring Kathrine Hepburn and Cary Grant taking care of a Leopard named Baby is hilarious from start to finish.  Grant is the uptight paleontoglist professor and Hepburn is a rich doner’s daughter who is a massive klutz.  They have to transport this leopard and all hell breaks loose and it has great dialogue, slapstick, hijinks,  and mistaken identities.  It’s one you could watch with the entire family and all have a hearty laugh.

 8.  The General-  A movie that has to be seen to be believed.  What Buster Keaton does with physical stunts is unbelievable.  Most of this movie is shot on a moving train and all to get the gags.  It’s an adventure and incredibly funny at the same time.  Very few title cards are needed because Buster Keaton is so expressive in his eyes and face.  It’s brilliant and hard to believe they could make a movie that holds up so well with action comedies of today, if not even slicker and more polished because it is actual people risking their lives instead of CGI.

Keaton can make picking up a log and putting it on the train hilarious  It’s without a doubt one of the best movies ever made and that’s not just nostalgia.  I’m telling you it still holds up today in every way. Trust me on this one.  If you think you will never like a silent movie give The General a shot.

9. Office Space- I love movies about work and that includes laughing about work.  I so related to this movie when I was stuck in the stupefying nothingness of cubicle life.  (Cubicle Hell as I like to call it). The useless company protocol like TPS reports, the cheap attempt to replicate family celebrations like birthdays, having 5 different bosses who have no idea what your actual job is, the worst boss in movie history, the ridiculous employee reviews,  and wanting to smash the tar out of the office copier.  All of that rings true.  I watch it and thank the Lord for a job I love.  Thank you, thank you. At least this movie made me laugh when it was rough.

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I love the ridiculousness of the plan they come up with ‘Isn’t that in Superman 4…” and when they get the magazine guy to tell them about money laundering or the flare at the chain restaurant ‘I want you to want to wear more flare’.  It’s hilarious but it is the only R rated movie on this list and it earns the R so be forewarned.

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10. Best in Show- My favorite of the Christopher Guest troop films although they are all hilarious.  Using the mockumentary style to cover a dog show and their owners it is funny from start to finish.  The entire team is at the top of their game including Jennifer Coolidge, Eugene Levy (literally has 2 left feet), Catherine O’Hara from Home Alone (which I could have put on this list but I already profiled it), Jane Lynch and more.  I especially love Fred Williard as the commentator who has me in near tears laughing at his frequently improvised lines.

I have yet to show this movie to someone who didn’t laugh.  (I’m sure there will be a barrage of comments saying they didn’t laugh but in my real life everyone loves it).

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