Shame
1968 ‘Skammen’ Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Synopsis
Ingmar Bergman's psychological study of how humans react in a situation of war. The film takes place on Gotland, where invasion forces arrives.
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Day 17. 50th Film, 37th Country: Sweden.
of the "May: 30 Days, 30 Countries" Challenge.A film about how war will steal from you your virtues, morals and dreams. Yes this is Ingmar Bergman doing a war film! We have a couple who change dramatically through their experience of a civil war and both of them end by loosing their dream, literally and figuratively.
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A masterpiece. One of Bergman's best. Curiously overlooked.
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It's incredible that one of the absolute Bergman masterpieces has only two reviews and a 140 views yet on Letterboxd!
"Skammen" is easy to spoil so I will only say what it generally is about - The impossibility of defining good and evil in the history of human suffering, notably in the war.
Liv Ullman and Max von Sydow do a fantastic performance that goes beyond 99% of film acting. Why? Well, they literally disappear behind their characters who can just react to the atrocities of war that surround them in adopting more and more to its (the war) rules. They are no actors in some sense and this makes the film wonderful.
Also, the cinematography of Sven Nykvist is…
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With Shame Ingmar Bergman shows us war from a different perspective, that of a simple couple. The film starts out with as a sweet and intimate portrait of a couple living on an island. They flirt, talk about the future, have little fights and generally do couplish things. There are references towards a possible war but the couple are apolitical and rather ignorant to what is going on. They are just living their lives, but then the war breaks out. It happens suddenly when sounds of aircraft and explosions are blaring overhead. There is a constant barrage of gunfire and explosions. The sky in the distance constantly lights up as they attempt to escape and see the carnage of burnt…
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Hard film to give a star rating for... I enjoyed watching it, and however superficially enjoyed Bergman's directing bravado, but on first viewing feel kind of ignorant what it was all about, the politics of the war and the behavior of Jan and Eva to one another, even how exactly the title plays into it. Still start a film off with a half naked Liv Ullmann and you got my attention.