Like many others, when I first saw "The Seventh Seal," I realized that a movie can be more than diverting entertainment; it can be a true work of art that explores the deepest issues. Bergman was the son of a Lutheran minister, and though he rebelled against that background, he could never really escape it. He was haunted by a God he refused to believe in. And his spiritual struggles are all in his movies.You can read more about about Bergman and his work at the Wikipedia entry.Get this quote:
"It is my opinion that art lost its basic creative drive the moment it was separated from worship. In former days the artist remained unknown and his work was to the glory of God... Today the individual has become the highest form and the greatest bane of artistic creation."
Thomas Hibbs:
Why does infidelity matter? Why should we be plagued with guilt over past misdeeds, over harms caused to others? Why be burdened with a need to confess, to put into words and to come to see clearly where things went wrong? Why the insatiable desire for forgiveness? Despite his claim that, after the faith trilogy, he simply dropped the religious issue, these questions are as prominent in Bergman’s last artistic creations as in his earlier films.
Bergman’s inability to shake these terrifying questions, his direct and supple depiction of the strains, sorrows, and pains of infidelity, distinguish him as a master craftsman who will remain worthy of our attention for many years to come. Comparing himself to the craftsmen who built medieval cathedrals, he accurately observed in an interview with Andrew Sarris: “Whether I am a believer or an unbeliever, Christian or pagan, I work with all the world to build a cathedral because I am artist and artisan, and because I have learned to draw faces, limbs, and bodies out of stone.”
