By Rachel Molique
The Seventh Seal
In the movie The Seventh
Seal, Antonius Black struggles with believing in God and not believing in
him. The reason he may not believe is because he has just spent the last ten
years fighting in the Crusades and has seen and experienced some very terrible
things. It is clear from the beginning of the movie though that he wants to believe
in God because he challenges Death to a game of chess so that he can be granted
more time to find something to make him believe.
Ingmar Bergman does a good job of showing the conflict
that Antonius is experiencing through his use of light and dark. Since the
movie is in black and white the contrast between the two is very important. In
this movie the color white, like in most movies, represents light, innocence,
good, and God. The color black represents darkness, evil, bad, and Death. In the movie Death is obviously the darkness.
But Joseph and Mary and Michael are the light. They resemble innocence in the
film. They are the ones who help Antonius see that not everything is bad. When
they share the strawberries and milk with Antonius it helps him see life in a
different way.
They are ultimately the reason that Antonius
finally “accepts” death. Antonius wanted to live so that he could do something good
for someone else which would help him find his faith. Well Antonius does
something amazing for Joseph, Mary, and Michael, he helps them escape death. At
one point in the movie Antonius is playing chess with Death and Joseph wakes up
and sees this. He then decides that he and his family need to leave quietly so
that they can escape death. Antonius sees what Joseph is doing and decides to “distract”
death by knocking over all of the chess pieces and claiming that he doesn’t
remember where they belong. While death is resetting the chess pieces Joseph
and his family are able to escape.
This
good deed that Antonius performed did help him accept death, but he still
feared death. I think that he still feared death because he had never really
found his faith. Even at the end of the movie when death shows up for him,
Antonius is praying but he is skeptical as to whether or not anyone can hear
his prayers. I feel like not having faith and believing that there is nothing that
comes after life would be scary too.
Ultimately
Death does take Antonius, Jons, Karin, Lisa, Blacksmith Plog, and the girl. At
the end of the movie Joseph looks off into the dark distance and sees them all
dancing away with Death and then he and Mary and Michael all walk on into the
light to go on to a better place. The contrast of light and dark at the end
shows that Joseph, Mary, and Michael essentially are the faith and light and
innocence in the movie and that Antonius Black never really did fully believe
in God again.
I like this post and what has been said throughout. I agree totally on the topic of light being a representation of innocence, life, good, and God. The opposite of light, dark, also represents the likes of evil and death, lifelessness. In black and white films, there aren't as many ways to illustrate the scenes as a film of today's era would have, so the use of light and dark to get the points across is a very smart idea.
ReplyDeleteThe writer explains how Antonius does a good deed for Joseph, Mary, and Michael. Antonius becomes aware of the family attempting to escape and run away before death can capture them. While he's playing chess with death, Antonius intentionally knocks all of the chess pieces over and forces the man of Death to be distracted. As Death is putting all the pieces back into place, Joseph and his family scurry away, thanks to Block. This is a very interesting part in the movie, that brings out my point from my post about the theme of self. Many people throughout the film were all in it for the betterment of self and winning their own "chess match with death," this being a metaphor to life. Everyone seems so selfish. We see the squire, as he is going to fill up his water bag, saves a young girl from death. But not just because he wanted to save her, but because he had known the man from many years ago. The thief Raval had tried to kill him in the past. And after "saving" the young girl, he tries making out with her. Once she refuses to do so, he uses the fact that saved her, against her, and forces the young lady to be his housekeeper. The squire even has a wife at this, but he didn't seem to care since he was hoping that she had died by this point. Self betterment is seen again by the painter of church. This man, who held conversation with the squire as he finished his illustrations, explained to him what he was painting and why. He told him that the people needed to see what was going to happen, even though it was harsh and frightening. The painter didn't seem to care, it was reality. When asked what would happen when all the people became angry with him, he simply said that he'd paint something cheerful, like it was that easy. His reasoning was the fact that "One has to make a living somehow. At least until the plague comes for you." He was using the plague and death to his advantage, to keep the upper hand in his "chess match with death".
One line that sticks out to me from this movie is "It's always your own arse you sit on". This means that whatever you choose to do in life, it's always going to effect YOU. You live alone, you die alone. It's all about self. But during his own chess match with death, Antonius flips the script and helps someone else win their chess match with death. The scene with Block helping Joseph and his family escape is basically the scene that breaks the theme of self betterment in the film, and gives the movie new light, or life.
I enjoyed your post and take on the usage of contrast to enhance the concept of using these to portray good and God along with bad and death. What I enjoyed about the movie was the focus on faith and the searching for it. Bergman uses dialogue well to turn the story and the Knight’s thought process of his journey.
ReplyDeleteBergman did an incredible job using the dialogue to show the evolution of the Knight’s search for faith. There is great dialogue throughout between all the characters of the story, but mainly between the Knight and Death. There is a great back-and-forth between the Knight and Death early on in a confessional. It is especially great because the Knight has no idea that it is Death he is speaking so deeply to. The Knight reveals that he is ready to die because he is disgusted with himself and his life. However he is waiting for knowledge of God and the opportunity to do a good deed to reflect some good in his life. He even goes on complaining how he cannot kill God within him, or the need to find Him. He eventually explains to Death, unknowingly, that he is using the reprieve to perform a good deed.
The real dynamic conversation takes place when the Knight comes along Joseph, Mary, and Michael. The Knight finds true innocence in the couple along with their son and it changes him. They greet each other and the couple, who has all that you see, offers him fresh strawberries and milk. I believe this is, even if just a shred, part of the knowledge he is searching for: that innocence and good do exist. He ends the meeting thanking them and mentioning how he will cherish the memory of it forever. Before he leaves he comments on how faith is a torment and it is like loving someone who isn’t there. Once he returns to his chess game he is smiling and Death rather dislikes the look of satisfaction on his face and arrogant behavior. Death chooses to tear him down asking the Knight if he was going to lead Mary and Joseph through the woods with him and responds, “Oh, no reason at all,” when the Knight gets curious about the question. You see a sudden change in the Knight’s face when he realizes that he must save them.
Towards the end of his game of chess with Death, the Knight sees a final opportunity to perform a good deed. If he cannot find his faith he will at least perform one good deed in his lifetime. He proceeds to knock over all the chess pieces; forcing Death to tend to them, he allows Joseph, Mary and Michael to get away safely.
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