RIFLE RANGE BOY

https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/old-town-in- stockholm-sweden-gm523395133-51237318 Stockholm Syndrome never really happened, at least not how they described it to us. A little background here... Back in 1973, in Stockholm, a convict on parole, Jan Erik Olsson, attempted to rob a bank with a gun. He took four bank employees as hostages. He held the hostages for six days in the bank vault, demanding that the police release his friend, a celebrity criminal, Clark Olofson, from behind bars, some money and free passage. The police did not budge, but they managed to smoke them out by drilling a hole through the vault and infusing noxious gas inside. The puzzling thing throughout the whole fiasco was that the hostages were said to have sided with the assailant. They viewed the police as the bad guys and did not take the opportunity to escape when the police purposely laid the plan for them. It is said that the hostages later crowdsourced funds for the robber's trial.  It was later revea...

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...

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...

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...

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 Ka...

Smiles of a Summer Night (Sommarnattens leende, Swedish; 1955) Written and Directed by: Ingmar Bergman One romantic comedy set in early 20th century Sweden. It tells the story of 4 couples engaged in a twisted love affair. First, there is a 50year old advocate, Fredrik Egerman, who is married to a 19 year old Anne. He was a widower and and has a 18 year old son, Henrik, who is a confused lad who is trying very hard to be celibate to join priesthood. He is teased by his promiscuous  maid, Petra. Fredrik and Anne's matrimony had not been consummated despite 2 years of union. Meanwhile, Fredrik meets up with his ex-girlfriend, stage actress Desiree Armfeldt. Whilst in Desiree's bedroom, her current boyfriend, a hormoned raged soldier, Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm walks to his wrath. A tiff ensues. Fredrik leaves but Desiree ends her relationship with the Count. The enraged Count tells his ever loving wife, Charlotte, Anne's friend about Fredrik's infidelity...

The Silence (Tystnaden, Swedish; 1963) Written and Directed by Ingmar Bergman Concluding Bergman's trilogy of faith is this movie about two sisters and a 10 year old boy. Again, this is another movie which would make you wonder the direction the film is taking, initially. Unlike its predecessors, this one does not question religious faith, but rather the faith on how we should lead our lives. It starts with Ester, a sickly lady with paroxysms of cough and breathlessness, her sister Anna who is stylish but appears to be irritated with her sister. There is Anna's son, Johan, who seems to be in his own world looking and learning all the  things around him. They seem to be travelling in a train in a foreign country. At a hotel, Ester is still ill but she still refuses to see a doctor but instead buries her sorrows in vodka and cigarette. Anna is busy with self immersion, immersed in a bath and getting dressed for a piece of action in the new town. The town is in bri...

Wild Strawberries (Smultronstället, Swedish; 1957) Directed and Written by: Ingmar Bergman After a certain age, we of the older generation would tend to walk around with a chip on our shoulder, are conceited with ourselves, thinking of others as not worthy of our acquaintance. We think that whatever we had done was just right and it helped to pave our own and other peoples' life. An occasional smack on the head and humbling experience will definitely make us more grounded. Sometimes, it is important for us to accept the fact and make amends to be at peace with our love ones! This, in essence is the gist of the movie by the legendary Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. Prof Isak Borg is a cranky 78 year old widower who lives alone with his maid in his big house. He is short tempered sharing a love-hate relationship with his live-in old maid (and it is nothing romantic) of many years. He is to be feted with an honorary doctorate from University of Lund for his 50...

Through a Glass Darkly* (Såsom i en spegel, 1961; Swedish) Written and Directed by Ingmar Bergman This is one of the three movies made by Bergman on spiritualism. The mark of this great director is seen in the make of the film which involves 4 characters and a film which spans only a single day. It goes on to suggest (at least in my mind) that there is a very thin line which separates insanity and religious fanaticism! It starts with the main characters swimming - Karin, her husband Martin, her 17 year old brother Minus and her father David. We slowly realize that Karin is suffering from schizophrenia whose prognosis appears guarded and incurable. Minus has some teenage issues of his own, unable to find a girlfriend. Martin is the only one who seem to be strong. David,  writer, has just returned from Switzerland to be with the family before leaving again.  We are also told that Karin's mother had died earlier due to the same illness that struck Karin, and th...