How Man maintains his sanity?

The Virgin Spring (Swedish: Jungfrukällan) 1960
Director: Ingmar Bergman

Yet another movie questioning the silence of God on the happenings of daily life in the Ingmar Bergman fashion. This time it is set in medieval Sweden. I suppose it was the time when the people there are just exposed to the modern religion of Christianity and slowly trying to learn the mysterious ways that He works and trying to understand why.

It is at a time when they are some, usually the underprivileged and the powerless with less clout in society, who are still hoping for their pagan Norse deity Odin to release them from their miseries. In essence, the Christian God seems to be the possession of the bourgeois!

A rich Christian man's maiden daughter, Karin, is assigned to send candles to a church on horseback with her pagan maid. Along the way, they go separate ways. Karin continues the journey alone. Along the way, she bumps into three goatherd brothers. The kindhearted Karin offers them food. After taking her food, the elder two of the savage brothers mercilessly raped and killed her. They ripped her off her expensive tunics and scooted off. This event was watched by the maid but was too stunned to do anything. She just made herself home as if nothing happened.

After a few days, the goatherds who were wondering about took shelter at the rich man's shack, unknown to the visitors of the real owners of the house.

After feeding their visitors, the host discovers their guests' true identity. In a fit of rage, the father kills all three of the brothers.

The entourage of father, mother, maid finally make it to the site of the slain maiden. The grief-stricken father, obviously remorseful of hasty actions has a one on one monologue with God. This is the climax of the movie. He argues for the reason for the silence of God when the goatherds murdered her child and when he lost his cool seeking vengeance. At the end of the uncertainty, he, like what most mortals would do, decided that he would instead build a magnificent church at the site of the death of his daughter. As if like an auspicious symbol, when the dead girl's remains are lifted, the spring emerges from the earth beneath. The attendees cleanse their faces with it, giving piety to the whole idea.

The message I gather is that we, only feel frustrated by daily turns of events, blame and question God on his action and somewhat lack of, accept that He knows best, carry on glorifying Him and take things as they are...

That is the story of how Man maintains his sanity on life over the years in spite of all the calamities that he faces day in and day out...