cricketbat The Seventh Seal is a special kind of film because it deals directly with the reality of death, yet it retains a feeling of hope. Ingmar Bergman projects his fear of the unknown on the screen and, as an audience, we are able to relate because we've all felt the same type of fear. It is a beautiful film and it features iconic images and ideas. This is truly a classic.

warrenfountain As much as I enjoy the idea of playing chess with death and the dialogue between the two, I can't ignore the plainness that I felt in the gaps between the chess games. It's an interesting insight to Ingmar Bergman's mind and it is well done but it is also a bit dragged out and IMO not as incredible as the mass of 10/10 reviews would point towards.If you historically contextualize it, it is no doubt addressing philosophical questions in a far more open and poetic way than many would dare, all while maintaining a dark & lovely feel buttt it's a little rough watching it in 2018.

zianimustafa The film begins, and the sky rises on us, and two people fall near the beach, and while in this silent silence there is a terrifying guest coming to them soon, comes the guest quickly and suddenly, ask the hero of the film Antonius Black who are you? I answer death! This is how the film starts with a shocking and breathtaking scene, a scene that critics have rated as the best opening in the history of cinema. Not surprisingly, they brought together people and death together. The film revolves around the return of the crusader Antonius Block to his country, Which leads people to believe that the resurrection has approached and became imminent, and then goes to Antonius great battle with the self in an attempt to search for answers about life and man, and the Great God! My story with this film is long, and it started two years ago. At that time I was bored to the limit of those classic and traditional Hollywood and European films. I was looking for films about life, dramatic human and philosophical films. , I saw the film for the first time and did not like it, I grew up in Bergman Cinema and watched its greatest movies and then became very familiar with the ideas and films of this man, I saw the film again, and it became the second best film I have ever seen! , This is the Bergman Cinema, the films of this man are different from all the films, and my words are only evidence that Bergman Cinema and others contain a great deal of ideas and novels deep, and certainly will not appreciate his work in just one view. I love Bergman,

Anssi Vartiainen Thus begins Ingmar Bergman's masterpiece Det sjunde inseglet, or The Seventh Seal if you prefer. A Crusader knight Antonius Block has returned to his home country Sweden with his squire Jöns to find it ravaged by the plague. Immediately upon their arrival Antonius meets Death and promptly challenges him to a game of chess with his very life as the stakes. From there we follow his journey across the land towards his castle where he believes his lovely wife to be waiting.The Seventh Seal is an epic. From the very first scene with Death standing on a rocky beach and sitting across from a disillusioned knight, we enter the realm of myths and legends. The scenes in the movie are somewhat disjointed. We might go from a prolonged scene of travelling actors playing roosters on a stage to a march of flagellants, religious fanatics whipping themselves bloody to earn salvation. Yet they all talk about much of the same thing. Why are we here? And now that we are here, what are we doing with the life given to us?The movie also ponders upon the so called silence of God. Why we have to live in uncertainty? Why the requirement for salvation is unquestioning faith? How are we supposed not to fear death when we have no guarantees. Antonius Block struggles with these very questions and the people travelling with him represent the different kinds of answers one might receive. None of them are hundred percent correct. Or perhaps they are, depending on your point of view. The movie lays down the questions and some of the possible answers, but in the end it's up to you.It's also a very impressive film visually, especially given the budget. Death, played by Bengt Ekerot, is especially memorable. His figure with a dark cape and a black cowl, almost monk-like in appearance, is one of the definitive images of Death in popular culture. And for a reason. Every scene he and Antonius share together is heavy, filled to the brim, trembling.The Seventh Seal was not at all what I expected, but then they so rarely are. Most definitely worth a watch for multitude of reasons, from the imagery to the themes to the story.