RIFLE RANGE BOY

Port of Call (Hamnstad, Swedish; 1948) Director: Ingrid Bergman The reason I thought that this movie is of value is that it depicts how much our society has changed in just about seventy years. Even though Sweden was regarded as a liberal country then, we realise that they still held many conservative values which by today's standards would be considered archaic. Probably, for the first time, taboo topics like suicides, promiscuity and abortions are openly discussed. This must be something new for the post-World War 2 modern world. Berit is seen jumping off a wharf, to be rescued by a sailor, Gösta, who had decided to call his sailing days quits. They develop a relationship. Slowly, we are told of Bertha's past. She is a disturbed young lady who had a troubled childhood. Growing with a strict mother and frequently quarrelling parents, she yearned to find freedom. One day, a teenage Berit is locked outside her apartment when she returns late from an outing. She ru...

Thirst (Törst, a.k.a Three Strange Loves, Swedish; 1949) Director: Ingmar Bergman. Do you really know what we want in our lives?  Are we dreaming up something and spending our whole lives trapped in a nightmare attempting to achieve the impossible? When mores in the society used to be so strict, perhaps it gave a certain amount of sanity to the general population. With empowerment and the decline in needing to conform, people started doing things as their wish. Happiness and self-contentment is the end-point. The problem is that the quenching of this thirst is an ever-elusive unattainable goal.  The film, which is quite revolutionary at this time, in its cinematography and storyline is typical of Bergman's movies. It speaks of things that are considered taboo in the society at that time- suicide, infidelity, lesbianism and depression. It revolves around three love stories which are somewhat inter-related. It is narrated from the point of view of Rut, who is returnin...

The Touch (1971) Directed by: Ingmar Bergman This is one of Bergman's movies that bombed in the box office. Perhaps because its storyline is somehow bizarre, but then it does not create the kind of cerebral exercise that his films generally generate. It is said that the story is self-explanatory with a sort of poetic justice attached to it. The audiences are left as passive absorbers of the narration. Andreas, a doctor, (Max Von Sydow) and Karin (Bibi Anderson), a homemaker are happily married with 2 preteen daughters. Andreas invites his patient, David, for dinner. David, an American archaeologist, was in town to excavate an ancient statue of Mother Mary. Slowly, for no particular reason, Karin, a devoted mother starts a scandalous affair with David. We soon discover that David is a neurotic, abusive individual with baggage of disturbed childhood growing escaping the Holocaust. Pretty soon, Karin (and David) become obsessed with their relationship, acting like teen...

Prison (Fängelse, 1949) Directed by Ingmar Bergman Another early offering #6 from Bergman. It is a short film which has a very dark background, setting and story-wise, noir like. It is precursor to many of his later movie with dark themes like the silence of God, mental illness and the uncertainty of life. Here, it looks at the trappings of life. A movie shooting is in progress. The director's old Maths professor who had just been released from mental asylum meets him to propose his bizarre story for consideration to be made into a film. The story narrates how Satan comes to Earth to declare it as Hell itself! The team politely declines the story. The happenings over the next few days actually makes everyone thinking. Perhaps, life on Earth is already a living Hell! Tomas, a screenwriter, of late has been consuming more and more alcohol than he should. During one of his stuporous states, he suggested to his fiancé they should commit suicide together! Startled, the fiancé b...

The Magician ( Ansiktet, a.k.a. The Face,  Swedish; 1958) Director: Ingmar Bergman At first you wonder what the heck is happening. A group of travelling magicians are seen moving in a caravan back in the late 19th century Sweden. The leader of the team, Dr Vogler, an apparently mute magician has in his entourage, an assistant (an obviously lady masquerading as a man who later turned out to be his wife), a mysterious 200year old nanny, a stage coach driver, a helper named Tubal who actually just wants to settle down as a house husband are all mixed up in this hodge-podge of conmen who appear to be running from something. As they go through a small town, they are stopped by police to be interviewed by a group of cynics. These cynics, The Police Superintendent, a doctor - an atheist and a man of science and a nobleman all interview them on the authenticity of their 'magic' acts. The nobleman's wife is still mourning over the death of her son and was hoping to 'meet...

To Joy (Till glädje, Swedish; 1950) Director: Ingrid Bergman One of Bergman's early offerings, good nevertheless. Here it is not about the silence of Creator but rather of the complicated dynamics of family life, specifically man and wife and its complexities. The film starts with a violinist being interrupted from performing when an important phone call comes in. The call is for Stig. He receives a rather bad news about the death of his wife in a kitchen accident. The story goes back to 7 years previously... A rather timid man, Stig, is a violinist in a philharmonic orchestra. He soon develops feelings for the only female violinist, Martha, in the group. Even though there were other suitors, Martha decides to settle down with Stig for his simplicity and straightforwardness. Stig has big plans for his career, being a soloist and playing in Stockholm. Unfortunately, his skills do not match his ambitions. One by one, things happen and the young man is more disheartened. Mart...

Stromboli (1950) This neo-realistic Italian film sparked the affair between one of my favourite actresses and Italian director, Roberto Rossellini. This union ended with an out of wedlock baby, which ostracised Ingrid Bergman for years at the Hollywood level. A neo-realistic movie ( Neorealismo ) would be one where the location of the set is amongst the poor and its use of non-professional actors. Here, in Stromboli, the setting is among a fishing community living on an island with a volcano. Coincidentally, it actually erupted during the shooting. Even though it tells a story of a Lithuanian refugee who gets herself in a marriage of convenience to escape internment camp, it questions life and God at a deeper level. It narrates the harsh reality of getting hitched to someone totally different in values, beliefs, way of life, and how he lives. Karin (Ingrid Bergman) finds herself living in a depilated house on an island with active volcanic activity. Her neighbours are unfriendl...

Sawdust and Tinsel (Gycklarnas Afton,Swedish; 1953) Life, has its up and down. Every now, a crisis builds up and disappears just as fast as it appears. At the time it materializes, it seem like the end of the world but then, with time, it finds a steady state and then it no longer is the big problem that it was previously. This 1953 drama narrates the happenings around a travelling circus which stops at a town. The morale amongst the performers and its owner, Albert, is low as viewers' appreciation is low and income is measly. Albert arrives at the town where his ex-wife and young sons who he left 3 years previously, lives. He now travels with a young pretty mistress performer, Anne. Albert gets a idea of having a great parade to advertise their presence in town but their tattered costumes were nothing to show off. He decides to borrow costumes from a drama troupe in town. He approaches the director. What ensues is an interesting dialogue between two group of performers,...

https://www.facebook.com/kia.m.boon/posts/10152117151771416 A letter by Akira Kurosawa in 1988 that deserves to be read in full, as we grow older in 2014 ~ Dear Mr. Ingmar Bergman, Please let me congratulate you upon your seventieth birthday.   Your work deeply touches my heart every time I see it and I have learned a lot from your works and have been encouraged by them. I would like you to stay in good health to create more wonderful movies for us.   In Japan, there was a great artist called Tessai Tomioka who lived in the Meiji Era (the late 19th century). This artist painted many excellent pictures while he was still young, and when he reached the age of eighty, he suddenly started painting pictures which were much superior to the previous ones, as if he were in magnificent bloom. Every time I see his paintings, I fully realize that a human is not really capable of creating really good works until he reaches eighty. A human is born a baby, becomes a boy, goes through...

Nara Livet [1958, Swedish; Brink of Life(US), So Close to life(UK)] Director: Ingmar Bergman A drama which earned 1958 Cannes award for Best director and awards for Best Actress (all three main characters), this is a story of the concept of having children, the guilt, the acceptance and the problems associated with them.  It narrates the occurrences in the maternity ward over a span of a day.  Not every child is born in the world wanted, sometimes their loss wrecks relationship, other times so much hope is placed on them which leads to disappointed when expectation is not met! The film starts with Cecilia Ellius, at three months' pregnancy being wheeled in to the ward after experiencing bleeding. A guilt stricken Cecilia has a miscarriage and blames herself for her predicament. She never wanted the child in the first place. Her husband too, in midst of completing his thesis was not really ready. Mr and Mrs Ellius' relationship take a dive for the wo...

Autumn Sonata ( Höstsonaten, Swedish; 1978) Director: Ingmar Bergman How long can you go on blaming your parents for your behaviour, misbehaviour and emotional wellbeing? Sure, they provided the building blocks upon which you blobbed up to a multi-billion celled organism but did they not undergo all that psyche and physique altering 9 months. Then there were the phenomena of maternalistic instinct and the ever embracing comfortable bosoms that she provided. What about the story of the mother and the burning house? She would rush in to grab you from the raging fire even when the beam of the house is in the verge of collapse and even jump into a lake without knowing to swim, just to save you. And the sleepless days and nights caring for you during your time of being under the weather. All these were done without any expectations of return. Now, you are big and strong and you blame all your failures and underachievements on her. And you say that it was not your choice to be...