Rating of
3.5/4
The Seventh Seal review
Daniel Corleone - wrote on 01/28/12
It opens with a scene: “And when the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour... And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.” - The Bible, Revelation 8:1 and 8:6. A dangerous plague spreads across. Knight Antonius Block (Max von Sydow) plays chess with Death (Bengt Ekerot). Blocks squire Jöns (Gunnar Björnstrand) saves a servant girl (Gunnel Lindblom). They encounter the following actors, Jof and his wife Mia, with their baby son, Mikael. Karin reunites with Antonius. Skat and Lisa joins the group.
The strengths of this film include the direction and insightful screenplay. Quotes from the picture: Block – “I don’t regret anything.” “As long as I resist you, I live. If I win, you set me free.” “My whole life has been a meaningless search. I say it without bitterness or self-reproach. I know it is the same for all. But I want to use my respite for one significant action.” One of this reviewers personal favorite from Block - “We worry about so much.” and Jons – “If everything is imperfect in this world, love is perfect in its imperfection.” It had a few comical sequences despite its rather dark premise. Some observations include the sluggish pace of a few scenes and score was not that noticeable. The performances were sincere and the costumes were apt. A post-apocalyptic drama with topics on faith, religion, queries about life, The Seventh Seal entertains these ideas that almost all of us ponder despite it being unanswered.
