The Seventh Seal Analysis

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“The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries, both release in 1957, mark his coming of age as an artist” (Ebert 408). His fame continues as his films breakout into realms of the mystical and of the mind like The Magician (1958), Through a Glass Darkly (1961), and The Passion of Anna (1969).
Moreover, with films like Persona (1966) and Fanny and Alexander (1982), Bergman’s genius keeps manifesting. In 1976, however, Bergman suffered a series of personal setbacks; he was “arrested for tax fraud. Although the charges were later dropped, he had a nervous breakdown and moved to Germany. The Serpent’s Egg (1977), the first film he made after this debacle, and his first in the English language, portrayed events in Germany leading to the rise Adolf Hitler”
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“The directness of The Seventh Seal is its strength. This is an uncompromising film, regarding good and evil with the same simplicity and faith as its hero” (Ebert 406). Nevertheless, the success of the film is also due in part to its release in 1957 at time in history when the Cold War with Russia was at its height, and the threat of nuclear annihilation was on everyone’s mind. “The film’s powerful imagery further upheld Bergman as a visual stylist, but his directorial talents were matched by the abilities of gifted cinematographer, in this instance by Gunnar Fischer” (Schneider 233). The talented Swedish cinematographer often collaborated with director “Bergman on several of the director's best-known films, including Smiles of a Summer Night (1955) and The Seventh Seal (1957). In addition to his career as cinematographer, Fischer directed short films, wrote screenplays, and published books for children“ …show more content…
I liked the surreal quality of the storyline, the philosophical, religious quest, the struggling knight speaking to Death through the iron grille, pouring his heart out to him about his feelings and doubt, about God and religion, and God’s apparent indifference to end the suffering. A common theological question that at one time or another everyone has asked whenever their faith is shaken. The knight is trying to understand God’s mysterious morality and knows his own life is nearing the end, but wants to achieve salvation for his soul by making a jester of