Checkmate
2007-07-30 12:19:16.82533+02 by petronius 0 comments
Ingmar Bergman has died at 89 in Sweden. In the mid sixties, while in high school, a young teacher started a film society, and he showed our english class the first reels of The Seventh Seal, which he was showing that evening. I had never payed much attention to serious films, but I did to this one. There is a scene where people sitting in a tavern are discussing the evil portents of their disintegrating world, and their hysteria builds like an avalanche. Then suddenly the 16mm reel ran out, and I looked around and discovered that the teacher and I were the only ones left in class. I had not heard the final bell, so engrossed was I in the film. It was, I believe, the first time I had ever been moved by a work of art. And since then, everything has been different. Play well, Ingmar.