Winter Lights (Nattvardsgästerna, Communicants, Swedish; 1962)
Written and Directed by: Ingmar Bergman
This offering by the Swedish master filmmaker dwells on the topic God and our belief, particularly that of the Christian faith. It is his second instalment in his trilogy of 'Trilogy of Faith'. Bergman allegedly based this story on happenings in his life. His father was a clergyman who had to fill in once for a sick pastor.
It is a highly intellectual movie that must be viewed with an open mind as it questions the concept of God and religion. In a developed culture/society, this type of intellectual discourse is allowed and encouraged. In fact, during the heights of many civilizations, these type of inter and intra-faith discussions were revered (e.g. Asoka's reign, Akbar of Mogul Empire, Ottoman Empire). Sadly, now people view it as blasphemous and are up in arms at the mention of contradiction to the scriptures.
It narrates the day's event of a man of God who is ambivalent of the purpose of his work and whether he is actually doing any good. There is his church with hardly any attendance, his members of his congregation who he thinks are sneering at him for illicit liaison with a teacher and the Pastor's inability to avert his member from suicide.
Tomas and Marta, even though are a couple, they do not seem to communicate very well. Tomas likes the attention that he gets from her and things that she does for him, bending over backwards but feels uncomfortable being with her, fearing what people would say about a man in his stature. He is generally unpleasant and berating to her. Hence, Marta expresses her feelings in a long letter.
In the counseling session, Tomas related to Jonas about the atrocities that he saw during The Spanish War and his inability to explain the silence of God in protecting the weak. Perhaps, people could be more accountable to their actions if they were no God!
There, Rev. Ericksson engages in another discussion with the sexton (caretaker), Algot. Algot, who moves around with an abnormal gait and a bad spine after an accident in the railways, suggested that perhaps people were emphasizing on the pain suffered by Jesus. As far as he was concerned, Algot, after his accident had been suffering much more pain and longer than the 4hours that He had stayed on the cross. The real suffering of Jesus would have been the uncertainty and silence of God. The fact that He is the Son of God and had been advocating his teachings with his supposedly faithful disciples who had all disappeared. The uncertainty that he had been abandoned by God and that his teachings would all be a lie. That is the real suffering.
Written and Directed by: Ingmar Bergman
It is a highly intellectual movie that must be viewed with an open mind as it questions the concept of God and religion. In a developed culture/society, this type of intellectual discourse is allowed and encouraged. In fact, during the heights of many civilizations, these type of inter and intra-faith discussions were revered (e.g. Asoka's reign, Akbar of Mogul Empire, Ottoman Empire). Sadly, now people view it as blasphemous and are up in arms at the mention of contradiction to the scriptures.
It narrates the day's event of a man of God who is ambivalent of the purpose of his work and whether he is actually doing any good. There is his church with hardly any attendance, his members of his congregation who he thinks are sneering at him for illicit liaison with a teacher and the Pastor's inability to avert his member from suicide.
The whole movie is set in the chilling cold winters of a Swedish country side. If the slow pace of action does not drag you down, definitely the Nordic climate setting would. What more if you are watching it after a long hard day's work or run. I watched it a second time to savour the message it is trying to discuss.
Pastor Tomas Ericksson is an anxious man of God who leads a local church which is attended by only a handful of worshippers. Amongst the crowd is his girlfriend, Marta, a nonbeliever who is just there because she loves him desperately and Mr & Mrs Jonas Persson. After the service, the couple approach Tomas to discuss Jonas' mental anguish and suicidal thoughts!
Tomas and Marta, even though are a couple, they do not seem to communicate very well. Tomas likes the attention that he gets from her and things that she does for him, bending over backwards but feels uncomfortable being with her, fearing what people would say about a man in his stature. He is generally unpleasant and berating to her. Hence, Marta expresses her feelings in a long letter.
Meanwhile, the reverend, though being under the weather, has to run another service in a nearby village.
Jonas, with whom Tomas had a disastrous counseling session, where the pastor ended up telling the mentally anguish listener about all his reservations about God, is found dead after an apparent suicide.
After informing the widow of her husband's demise, he has a heart to heart showdown with his mistress. It appears that Tomas had not got over his wife's death and is still living in her memories. He likes Martha's care but keep comparing her to his wife and the good he had when she was around. He does not appreciate the baggage that came with Martha's acquaintance. On the other hand, he does not want to marry her as he still loves his dead wife. They finally just decided to just continue the status quo and the love-hate relationship. They drive together to the other church.
After all that soul searching and renouncement from his work, Tomas Ericksson just continued his service to an empty church...
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