Post by GRWelsh on Dec 18, 2014 13:06:40 GMT -5
I finally got around to watching this film last night. It's one I'd never seen before, for some reason. After watching so many inferior movies lately, I wanted to watch a classic to push the crap out of my brain. THE SEVENTH SEAL (1957), directed by Ingmar Bergman, stars a young Max Von Sydow. It is black and white, in Swedish, with subtitles. The title is, of course, a reference to the "end times" in the Book of Revelations. It is set during the time of the Crusades and the Black Plague, with a knight (Von Sydow) returning home to his castle near Elsinore in Denmark. I really enjoyed this one, for a number of reasons. I identified with the main character's desire to have knowledge, rather than just faith, about God and the afterlife. And the images of a knight playing chess against Death to get a short reprieve, and the Danse Macabre at the end -- they're just so iconic.
Yes, there were some anachronisms, which I thought they were and looked up after watching it. The last Swedish crusade (the third) took place in 1293 and the Black Plague didn't hit Europe until 1348. Large-scale witch persecutions only began later on in the 15th century. The Wiki article on the movie says the "flagellant" movement was foreign to Sweden -- but if the movie is actually set in Denmark (Elsinore), and the Catholic Encyclopedia says by 1349 this movement had reached as far as Denmark, then that isn't necessarily an incorrect detail but is still anachronistic to the Third Crusade.
Yes, there were some anachronisms, which I thought they were and looked up after watching it. The last Swedish crusade (the third) took place in 1293 and the Black Plague didn't hit Europe until 1348. Large-scale witch persecutions only began later on in the 15th century. The Wiki article on the movie says the "flagellant" movement was foreign to Sweden -- but if the movie is actually set in Denmark (Elsinore), and the Catholic Encyclopedia says by 1349 this movement had reached as far as Denmark, then that isn't necessarily an incorrect detail but is still anachronistic to the Third Crusade.