The crisis of faith film
This is for me a kind of film that can be quite instructive, and a part of the small but bright cinema of faith.
In arthouse faith cinema a few directors to look out for are
Carl Th. Dreyer
Ordet -- which means word in Danish, this is arguably Dreyer's finest, it's really a toss up between this and his last one Gertrude, and I am leaving out Joan of Arc, as being a film that should already be seen as a top film of all time, but these 2 Ordet and Gertrude offer the purest mature work of this extraordinary director. I'll find some videos about them, so my unlearnedness won't lead anyone astray, listen rather to those who really know, but if I disagree with them, i'll make that known too, and then it'd be a duel, who'll win the argument, me or the video??!!
[media=https://youtu.be/O1hBsVQpQX0]
YES you can see Ordet on this SW page, i'm delirious with happy happy joy joys!! Oh I feel like making a whole new post for it!!
[media=https://youtu.be/kCTEopqSQE0]
Robert Bresson
Ingmar Bergman -- with the Swedish master, we have a trilogy especially devoted to this
[media=https://youtu.be/j163kbHVPNU]
It's so weird to hear these videos, for all these years, I only saw the supplements, have not been privy to any thoughts others have about them!! .... that death of a loved one is reason to hate God, is pretty dumb, people die, it's natural, and bad things happening is natural too. Here's an idea-- think of the doctrine of Providence, which says essentially that God has everything in control, now think of what the driving tale of the Bible is, the salvation of those who He elects, for His Predetermined will, for all of humanity, on an unimaginable level things, happenings, the timings of everything have to be just so, lots of people unjustly die in this process of hell on earth, and this is where I think most give up on this religion. How could a good God allow all this is the common complaint and supposed answer to all the hubbub. But not for me, my issues with it are otherwise and are my own, Ingmar's issues are not mine, he made incredible films is all. And for films such as this to exist, I ... thank God for. I too would be disgusted by the love idea in Glass, but I like that film not for it's theological content, it's the look and feel of it, like songs, movies can often be great for me despite the dialogue in it. The spider reappears in Persona's amazing opening montage.
Through a Glass Darkly -- and this I gotta say is my new fave of them, it's just way more mellow overall even though there's a loud panic moment close to the end. In this film Harriet Andersson, married to the Max Von Sydow character are spending some time with the dad character played by Gunnar Bjornstrand. Harriet has a history of being hospitalized, and guess what, i'm gonna be full of plot spoilers, so beware!! The dad is using his own daughter for material for a book he's writing, which is not a very nice thing to be doing to your own flesh and blood. There's more to the story, all set on an island, beautiful black and white photography, but what has it to do with crisis of faith, why don't I mention that and that only, huh? Well I am working on a long post covering these issues, but in this film the younger son of the dad, well he's a seeker as some would call him, little on the slow side, he spends the night with Harriet on a rainy night in a broken down boat, he falls asleep in her arms, and by the way the way this is filmed is so gorgeous how the raindrops keep falling off the wood thingies. But i'm not describing it well, worry not my fine SW audience, this is just an exercise in remembrance, i'm not trying to introduce anyone to these films, if ya wanna see em, they can be found, and at any moment I could check to see if any are on YouTube to make it all a little easier, to sit at the feet of the cinematic masters, as I am allowing the masters of music and literature and theology to be like warm fireplaces for your cold purple varicose feet, for it is winter in the land of this discontent, this
[media=https://youtu.be/Uiq40K_OeH8]
Winter Light -- now this used to be my fave in the trilogy, it's absolutely a masterpiece, will always think so, Gunnar is back, and if you thought he was mean in Glass Darkly, well there's a scene in here when he's with Ingrid Thulin, a brightly lit classroom, and the look on his eyes is pure loathing and disgust for her. This comes from Bergman's fascination with August Strindberg, a playwright known as being a misogynist. This is imo in the annals of theatre a part of the beginning of modernism, along with Ibsen, with a stark and frank look at marital difficulties. Oh the marital problem picture has a few movies that have completely blown me away, like Cassavetes' A Woman Under the Influence and Bergman's own Scenes from a Marriage. Well anyways Gunnar here is a Luteran priest who just doesn't feel it anymore, and you see him perform his duties without belief, a minister who does his job, not believing what he's doing. Now in this day and age that's common, but back in the 60s this was odd, a minister would usually at least believe deep down in what he was doing, and wasn't only doing it to get private airplanes so he doesn't have to ride with demonic poor people. I borrow that from some vids I saw on Kenneth Copeland.
[media=https://youtu.be/oi6p09V61K0]
Where this guy gets to his criticism, he's critiquing it as if it's representing Christianity as a whole, no I say, it's a story of what can happen, and treating it with fearless honesty. Bergman is not teaching anything I don't believe so, he's creating a captivating story, that is a story that is close to him, he'd have to be less of a genius to have thought that this could actually be seen as a serious attack on Christianity. It's a character portrait of the loss of faith that may not be lost, as there's just a glimmer of hope still. It poses for the viewer thoughts to think about, this reviewer is free to take it the way he does, but Bergman I repeat, wasn't going around making immature attacks on something he felt so deeply and strongly about. If you see his other films, there's plenty in there where he's clearly showing a love for that heritage from his own dad, he was a rebel when a kid, he dug Nietzsche along with Strindberg. His personal statement of faith is a beautiful statement, it's like the kind of thing you'd hear in the sermon on the mount without the eye plucking and stuff like that.
It's not attacks, it's opening up problems experienced in a creative way, expressing what's unsaid inside.In the 60s there was a rising of these kinds of concerns globally, at least in the Western world. And this issue Ingmar had with faith, is not the only thing he was about. This is just a thing that most interests me as I am also going to be spending many months going through a major theological work, along with 2 flavorful insight bringers.
[media=https://youtu.be/d8phq25ECBg]
The opening hymn scene is so special for me, there's at least of dualism of sensations going on inside as I watch and listen
The Silence is the trippiest of the three, and the most explicitly hopeless, you're set adrift in a place where no one speaks your language, you can't understand anyone else, this is a world where the meaning God used to give humanity, is stripped away, leaving you with dancing midgets, and a funny waiter, and a few other odd assortment of characters. Ingrid Thulin in this, the scene where she gasps for air, wow, gonna see if there's a video, it's for me a sacred moment, says so much, the loud blaring horn sound the camera angle on her face, as she screams, as she's panicking something is becoming ever more clear to her, and it isn't very pleasant to her.
Our current absence of God world is way more horrible than this film, i'd LOVE to live in this Godless world
[media=https://youtu.be/cbRxl3vmlnQ]
Go to 1:21, and that moment will soon begin, ahhhh shivers down my spine .. it would be heavenly for it to just not be possible for understanding, then one can stop trying, and just play games, and create new ideas, there's other ideas than God I dare say.
In arthouse faith cinema a few directors to look out for are
Carl Th. Dreyer
Ordet -- which means word in Danish, this is arguably Dreyer's finest, it's really a toss up between this and his last one Gertrude, and I am leaving out Joan of Arc, as being a film that should already be seen as a top film of all time, but these 2 Ordet and Gertrude offer the purest mature work of this extraordinary director. I'll find some videos about them, so my unlearnedness won't lead anyone astray, listen rather to those who really know, but if I disagree with them, i'll make that known too, and then it'd be a duel, who'll win the argument, me or the video??!!
[media=https://youtu.be/O1hBsVQpQX0]
YES you can see Ordet on this SW page, i'm delirious with happy happy joy joys!! Oh I feel like making a whole new post for it!!
[media=https://youtu.be/kCTEopqSQE0]
Robert Bresson
Ingmar Bergman -- with the Swedish master, we have a trilogy especially devoted to this
[media=https://youtu.be/j163kbHVPNU]
It's so weird to hear these videos, for all these years, I only saw the supplements, have not been privy to any thoughts others have about them!! .... that death of a loved one is reason to hate God, is pretty dumb, people die, it's natural, and bad things happening is natural too. Here's an idea-- think of the doctrine of Providence, which says essentially that God has everything in control, now think of what the driving tale of the Bible is, the salvation of those who He elects, for His Predetermined will, for all of humanity, on an unimaginable level things, happenings, the timings of everything have to be just so, lots of people unjustly die in this process of hell on earth, and this is where I think most give up on this religion. How could a good God allow all this is the common complaint and supposed answer to all the hubbub. But not for me, my issues with it are otherwise and are my own, Ingmar's issues are not mine, he made incredible films is all. And for films such as this to exist, I ... thank God for. I too would be disgusted by the love idea in Glass, but I like that film not for it's theological content, it's the look and feel of it, like songs, movies can often be great for me despite the dialogue in it. The spider reappears in Persona's amazing opening montage.
Through a Glass Darkly -- and this I gotta say is my new fave of them, it's just way more mellow overall even though there's a loud panic moment close to the end. In this film Harriet Andersson, married to the Max Von Sydow character are spending some time with the dad character played by Gunnar Bjornstrand. Harriet has a history of being hospitalized, and guess what, i'm gonna be full of plot spoilers, so beware!! The dad is using his own daughter for material for a book he's writing, which is not a very nice thing to be doing to your own flesh and blood. There's more to the story, all set on an island, beautiful black and white photography, but what has it to do with crisis of faith, why don't I mention that and that only, huh? Well I am working on a long post covering these issues, but in this film the younger son of the dad, well he's a seeker as some would call him, little on the slow side, he spends the night with Harriet on a rainy night in a broken down boat, he falls asleep in her arms, and by the way the way this is filmed is so gorgeous how the raindrops keep falling off the wood thingies. But i'm not describing it well, worry not my fine SW audience, this is just an exercise in remembrance, i'm not trying to introduce anyone to these films, if ya wanna see em, they can be found, and at any moment I could check to see if any are on YouTube to make it all a little easier, to sit at the feet of the cinematic masters, as I am allowing the masters of music and literature and theology to be like warm fireplaces for your cold purple varicose feet, for it is winter in the land of this discontent, this
[media=https://youtu.be/Uiq40K_OeH8]
Winter Light -- now this used to be my fave in the trilogy, it's absolutely a masterpiece, will always think so, Gunnar is back, and if you thought he was mean in Glass Darkly, well there's a scene in here when he's with Ingrid Thulin, a brightly lit classroom, and the look on his eyes is pure loathing and disgust for her. This comes from Bergman's fascination with August Strindberg, a playwright known as being a misogynist. This is imo in the annals of theatre a part of the beginning of modernism, along with Ibsen, with a stark and frank look at marital difficulties. Oh the marital problem picture has a few movies that have completely blown me away, like Cassavetes' A Woman Under the Influence and Bergman's own Scenes from a Marriage. Well anyways Gunnar here is a Luteran priest who just doesn't feel it anymore, and you see him perform his duties without belief, a minister who does his job, not believing what he's doing. Now in this day and age that's common, but back in the 60s this was odd, a minister would usually at least believe deep down in what he was doing, and wasn't only doing it to get private airplanes so he doesn't have to ride with demonic poor people. I borrow that from some vids I saw on Kenneth Copeland.
[media=https://youtu.be/oi6p09V61K0]
Where this guy gets to his criticism, he's critiquing it as if it's representing Christianity as a whole, no I say, it's a story of what can happen, and treating it with fearless honesty. Bergman is not teaching anything I don't believe so, he's creating a captivating story, that is a story that is close to him, he'd have to be less of a genius to have thought that this could actually be seen as a serious attack on Christianity. It's a character portrait of the loss of faith that may not be lost, as there's just a glimmer of hope still. It poses for the viewer thoughts to think about, this reviewer is free to take it the way he does, but Bergman I repeat, wasn't going around making immature attacks on something he felt so deeply and strongly about. If you see his other films, there's plenty in there where he's clearly showing a love for that heritage from his own dad, he was a rebel when a kid, he dug Nietzsche along with Strindberg. His personal statement of faith is a beautiful statement, it's like the kind of thing you'd hear in the sermon on the mount without the eye plucking and stuff like that.
It's not attacks, it's opening up problems experienced in a creative way, expressing what's unsaid inside.In the 60s there was a rising of these kinds of concerns globally, at least in the Western world. And this issue Ingmar had with faith, is not the only thing he was about. This is just a thing that most interests me as I am also going to be spending many months going through a major theological work, along with 2 flavorful insight bringers.
[media=https://youtu.be/d8phq25ECBg]
The opening hymn scene is so special for me, there's at least of dualism of sensations going on inside as I watch and listen
The Silence is the trippiest of the three, and the most explicitly hopeless, you're set adrift in a place where no one speaks your language, you can't understand anyone else, this is a world where the meaning God used to give humanity, is stripped away, leaving you with dancing midgets, and a funny waiter, and a few other odd assortment of characters. Ingrid Thulin in this, the scene where she gasps for air, wow, gonna see if there's a video, it's for me a sacred moment, says so much, the loud blaring horn sound the camera angle on her face, as she screams, as she's panicking something is becoming ever more clear to her, and it isn't very pleasant to her.
Our current absence of God world is way more horrible than this film, i'd LOVE to live in this Godless world
[media=https://youtu.be/cbRxl3vmlnQ]
Go to 1:21, and that moment will soon begin, ahhhh shivers down my spine .. it would be heavenly for it to just not be possible for understanding, then one can stop trying, and just play games, and create new ideas, there's other ideas than God I dare say.
46-50, M
