Day 6: A Little Bit of Art House Cinema

Saturday, April 23, 2011

DAY 6, MOVIE 1:

The Seventh Seal (1957), directed by Ingmar Bergman. A common misconception I think a lot of people make these days is that these black & white art films from the ‘50s are nothing more than weird images with no actual plot. But that couldn’t be further from the truth when talking about The Seventh Seal. This was my second time watching it, and is so far the only Bergman film I’ve seen. The setup is simple, a knight returning from the Crusades challenges Death to a game of chess. Through this simple premise, Bergman tells a story that looks into the struggling faith of the knight, and how his chess game effects those knows and meets over the course of the movie. This movie is beautiful, and in more ways than one. Like any great piece of art, The Seventh Seal is able to reflect the emotions of real life. I don’t know how Bergman did it, but he was able to touch upon nearly every aspect of faith in only 90 minutes; both the belief and disbelief in God, and the struggles that come with keeping those beliefs. I’m sure anyone who watches this movie will see themselves in one of the characters, or maybe even in various traits of different characters. The scene that spoke the most to me was when the knight asked Death what his secrets are, and Death simply said he has no secrets, he doesn’t know anything. Which is true, death itself doesn’t know anything, all it does take us whenever it is our time, no sooner and no later. And then there was that shot of the Dance of Death at the very end. That shot was breathtaking, and is one of my favorite images from any movie. I want to get a giant poster of that shot and hang it on my wall. It is just that beautiful.

DAY 6, MOVIE 2:

La Strada (1954), directed by Federico Fellini. This is the first Fellini I’ve ever watched, and from my understanding it was also the first of his movies to be an international success. So I guess I picked a good starting point for viewing his work. I had no clue what to expect from this movie, and I literally knew nothing about it before watching it. La Strada is about the travels of a young woman who is sold to brutish traveling entertainer, Zampanò. There weren’t many single scenes that jumped out at me, although the first time Zampanò performed his chain routine was captivating. And there weren’t any images that I think will be stuck in my mind for very long. But the character of Zampanò I think will always stay with me. Zampanò’s angry behavior reminded me of another Italian film from around the same era, Il Grido, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Both Zampanò and Aldo (from Il Grido) had trouble with their relationships with women. Zampanò couldn’t accept the love of the woman in his life, and always reacted in anger towards her. And Aldo was always emotionally distant from the women in his life; always moving on from one woman to the next. But what I liked about La Strada over Il Grido is that Fellini ended his movie with Zampanò having to live with his regrets, whereas Antonioni ended Il Grido with Aldo killing himself. I don’t think it takes any creativity to end a movie with the main character killing himself, I believe that’s taking the easy way out when a director doesn’t know how to end his movie. I find watching a character having to live with his decisions much more interesting, and I applaud Fellini for ending his film on the right note.