With Ingmar Bergman's recent passing I have been inspired to write this review, after holding off for quite some time.
I'm going right out and saying it: Winter Light is Bergman's masterpiece. Most critics, fans and lovers of the cinema will cite either Persona, The Seventh Seal, Fanny & Alexander or Wild Strawberries as the film that defined him, and while those are all masterpieces, none of them capture the internal struggle for faith and a need for God that he, and many of us face quite like Winter Light.
The film centers around a priest of a small country village who, recently begins to lose his faith, in God and human beings. He cannot offer any real advice to a depressed man, who is in need of reassurance, because he himself is not assured at all. With tragedy and hopelessness comes a truth about God, that ultimately affirms what many Christians believe. A truth that says he often is silent, and we all must face emotional doubt as Jesus did before we can become affirmed.
Its a depressing film, and it isn't easy to deal with on any given occasion due to its sheer emotional force. I found myself with a desire to turn it off because it was ringing true too closely to my own personal life. However, I persevered and was rewarded with an uplifting, yet subtle ending. It is a heavier film then any of his others, because it is a film that will most likely ring a bell with a lot of of people, whereas the ideas in his other great films can often be just viewed as ideas.
What makes Winter Light so great is its nature to cease being a piece of art, and a film and begin to become an experience to which both atheists and believers can relate. Atheists may relate to the uncertainty of God and the belief in his utter silence (he would have to be if he didn't exist), while Christians will be moved by the idea of hope amongst a world full of emotional suffering.
This is my honest review about a film that moved me deeply. I hope that you, the viewers are moved as deeply as I was by this masterpiece.
I'm going right out and saying it: Winter Light is Bergman's masterpiece. Most critics, fans and lovers of the cinema will cite either Persona, The Seventh Seal, Fanny & Alexander or Wild Strawberries as the film that defined him, and while those are all masterpieces, none of them capture the internal struggle for faith and a need for God that he, and many of us face quite like Winter Light.
The film centers around a priest of a small country village who, recently begins to lose his faith, in God and human beings. He cannot offer any real advice to a depressed man, who is in need of reassurance, because he himself is not assured at all. With tragedy and hopelessness comes a truth about God, that ultimately affirms what many Christians believe. A truth that says he often is silent, and we all must face emotional doubt as Jesus did before we can become affirmed.
Its a depressing film, and it isn't easy to deal with on any given occasion due to its sheer emotional force. I found myself with a desire to turn it off because it was ringing true too closely to my own personal life. However, I persevered and was rewarded with an uplifting, yet subtle ending. It is a heavier film then any of his others, because it is a film that will most likely ring a bell with a lot of of people, whereas the ideas in his other great films can often be just viewed as ideas.
What makes Winter Light so great is its nature to cease being a piece of art, and a film and begin to become an experience to which both atheists and believers can relate. Atheists may relate to the uncertainty of God and the belief in his utter silence (he would have to be if he didn't exist), while Christians will be moved by the idea of hope amongst a world full of emotional suffering.
This is my honest review about a film that moved me deeply. I hope that you, the viewers are moved as deeply as I was by this masterpiece.