The Seventh Seal

THE SEVENTH SEAL

2007

This is devoted to the film by Ingmar Bergman The Seventh Seal - a tale about the journey of a medieval knight . The form of the story is very difficult : realistic details were blended with religious and mythic overtones . The main hero was traveling with the target to find manifest of God , his journey was physical and at the same time spiritual one . The title of the film was related to the Book of Revelation , it was used at the beginning of the film and at the very end

: "And when he had opened the seventh seal , there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour (Revelation 8 :1

Bergman studied the themes of death and mortality , existential and apocalyptic fears and finally silence in heaven ' - the silence of God in the world . There was an idea that the whole film was in reality an allegory for the modern disquiet among people after they lost medieval faith , with one character embodying tortured doubt , another simple faith , still another defiant unbelief (Greydanus , 2001 . The film can not be considered an absolutely philosophical or purely religious one it dealt with religious issues in the society and human souls , reflected the fear of people , that there was probably no afterlife and no God if he was so silent . One of the main messages of the film was not to search for concrete answers , as at any rate they could be absolutely different from the initial expectations

Most of the film scenes were based on the balance between drama and comedy , at the same time the themes of revenge , anger , freedom , fear interchanged . The optimistic moments of the film were significant , due to them , the inevitable end of the world could not make people give up There was a strong contrast between the disappointment of the knight and his squire and the exasperated crowd , claiming that a girl was a witch and ought to be burnt , it is clear that the girl was innocent , but the process of burning helped the mob to deal with their fear of death . It was easer for them to believe that they annihilated evil , when burning the girl , than looking for the evil inside of themselves . This heart-rending scene was reinforced with the constant impression that the Judgment Day was inescapable and was coming closer and closer . The most evident reminding of it could be seen , when the leader of the procession of the self-torturing people was shouting about the God 's punishment and inevitable perdition waiting for all humans

The film was rich in symbols as well as existentialist themes - death religion , and metaphysics . The plague was not a simple disease , but embodiment of the intrinsic destructive forces of people it was supposed to verify the inherent values and strength of individuals . One of the key themes of the film was contrast : between reality and illusion , between faith and skepticism , between intellect and emotions between courage and...