The Seventh Seal

[Era Might]

So I saw "The Seventh Seal" for the first time. Obviously everyone has heard of it, I don't know how many have actually seen it though. I was surprised at how funny and touching it was at certain points. I'm guessing a lot of people haven't seen it because they think it's just a two-hour movie about death. But it's relieved by humor. It's probably the scariest movie I've ever seen, too, scary in a way that "scary movies" aren't scary. The guy who plays the knight was the priest in The Exorcist, which I thought was interesting. Everyone thinks of The Exorcist when they think of scary movies, but I think this movie is truly scary because it's not sensational, it's not a Hollywood movie at all, it's more like a Shakespeare play. The way I interpreted it was that people are obsessed with the idea of an Apocalypse precisely because they don't want to die. They have to imagine death as this great terrible "end." But the shock and horror of death isn't in earthquakes and omens. We can imagine a "Judgment Day" but we can't imagine the day after we die, that there is a day after we die, and that we won't be part of it. I loved the scene where as the medieval penitents are marching along whipping themselves in atonement for the plague, and as they march they slowly fade out of the screen, their voices die down, and the camera is left pointing from above at a silent grassy field. Everyone got what they wanted...they died.

I suppose you could look at the movie in different ways. The knight is a very serious character, his search is taken seriously. I don't think religion is taken seriously, but then, I don't think Jesus took religion seriously either. "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father."

[Era Might]

btw, here's the scene with the flagellants, apparently they're chanting "Dies Irae":

 

Edited October 23, 2017 by Era Might

[Seven77]

I actually tried watching this movie a few years ago but I couldn't really get into it. Maybe I'll try again. At the time I did find it to be a bit scary and morbid…

[Era Might]

29 minutes ago, Seven77 said:

I actually tried watching this movie a few years ago but I couldn't really get into it. Maybe I'll try again. At the time I did find it to be a bit scary and morbid…

Yeah, that's what I expected going in (it was being shown on the big screen as part of a Halloween movie festival). I was surprised. 

But it's a really well-developed movie, all the characters add something to it. Another great scene is when they're all just sitting around eating strawberries and milk, and the knight goes into a monologue about how he'll always remember the moment, and he'll remember it through the senses, the taste of the milk and strawberries. And, really, the movie has a "Hollywood ending." After the actor sees all the main characters going off on the "dance of death" the actor and his wife and child go off, still living in their small piece of life.

Scary, yes, but I don't think it's morbid, because it has everything: fools, simpletons, rogues, saints, etc. Even the knight eventually gets home to his wife, who he left 10 years before to fight in the Crusades. One of my favorite lines, when he's asked if he regrets what he did. He said, no, he doesn't regret anything, but he's tired, just tired.