RIFLE RANGE BOY

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...

Face to Face (Swedish; 1976) Director: Ingmar Bergman This is a painstakingly slow film about an extremely difficult topic, of mental illness. A psychiatrist, Dr Jenny Isaksson, comes to stay with her grandparents after her husband, also a psychiatrist, goes on a long conference. She had lost both her parents during her childhood to be cared by her grandparents. Her grandfather is having senile dementia whilst the grandmother goes out of her way to care for her partner. The environment of the house rekindled her suppressed childhood memories to ignite an episode of mental disorder that becomes quite debilitating, affecting her duties as a doctor, mother to her daughter and herself. It shows the intricacies of a breakdown. It is difficult to pinpoint events that lead to it. In a world where we like to put a name to any disease and go down to the bottom of it, it makes us wonder if there is anything (or do we know everything) about this dreaded irritant. There seem no shortcut to ...

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...

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...

Persona (Swedish, 1966) Director: Ingmar Bergman A highly complex film which showcases the human emotions in a rather abstract manner. Viewers of left to interpret the story in their own way. It starts with Elizabeth, a famous theatre actress who is brought in to the psychiatric ward after she just went blank during a performance and just refused to speak afterwards. Sister Alma is assigned by the psychiatrist to get close to her and tries to get to the root of her problem. All the while, Elizabeth does not talk, refuses to talk when spoken to. She does her own things, she reads, watches TV etcetera. She is visibly shaken by violence shown on TV - self immolation of a monk in Vietnam, pictures of Auschwitz. In the meanwhile, Sr Alma seem to be talking all the time revealing a lot about herself. She is engaged to be married soon to a doctor. Secretly, in her bed, Alma is grateful with her life, apparently complete and soon to have a few kids. Within the next second, she question...

En Passion (The Passion, Swedish; 1969) Director: Ingmar Bergman As the camera rolls in, the loneliness of the protagonist is made apparent. He is only greeted with the sounds of birds, winds and nature. There are no company of people for miles around, and the weather is not so refreshing. This is the backdrop of the start of this film which, one questions the very things that all individuals ask after they have achieved a certain level in life. They lay down specific guidelines for people around them to follow, and the boundary is breached; they cannot accept it, and pandemonium is the order of the day. People around them, affected by them, who long for their companion, who look at them for guidance and love, are the direct victims of their actions. If this explanation sounds confusing, watch it yourself and draw your conclusions. Answers in life are neither black nor white; they come in shades of grey. Andreas Winkelman (Max von Sydow, a regular in Bergman's films) is a lo...

Skammen (Swedish, Shame; 1968) Director: Ingmar Bergman Another powerful anti-war movie by master film maker which shows the emotional impact of war on human behaviour and relationship. There are many untold subtle messages in the movie that are left to viewers' discretion. And it does aim to solve any of world problems! Jan and Eva Rosenberg are a childless couple of 7 years' marriage who probably decided to leave the city life, as the were instrument players in the philharmonic orchestra, to live a quiet life near to nature in a lonely island. War, probably civil war, is looming with the sight of flying fighter planes and sounds of gunshots. The film starts off depicting Jan as a unstable guy who needs prodding and suggestion. Eve, the wife, seem to be losing her patience with his indecision but loves him still the same. They carry on life, supplying produce to clients. The talk around village is the worsening of war. Many are drafted into army, reluctantly. Jan is ex...