life - FilmRoot

Wild Strawberries (Sweden) – How Did You Live Your Life?

Wild Strawberries Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Do you have a grouchy grandpa or a grumpy old friend? Well this is the perfect film to watch with them. It reminds of us of our mortality and explores the meaning of life. Are we better off grumpy or friendly – watch and decide. I admit, it’s not a barrel of laughs, but it is thoughtful, beautiful, and worth every minute of your time.

Check three reasons to watch it below. Then watch it here on YouTube.

Why Watch Wild Strawberries?

For the perfect introduction to Swedish maestro, Ingmar Bergman
To explore the meaning of life!
It’s one of the greatest road trip films (although it is completely different to the extroverted Hollywood road trip films)
To see some scary dreams and visions

The Breakdown

Wild Strawberries starts with Isak, a 78 year old professor about to receive a doctorate. He thinks how he has become lonely in his old age (in an inner-monologue that we hear from a lot in this film) before he introduces us to his family and goes to wake up his maid. He is ready for a road trip!

It doesn’t seem like anyone really likes him though. In his old age, he has become lonely because he doesn’t like hanging out with his family or community. To add to that, he is plain rude. Whilst driving, he chauvinistically tells Marianne to stop smoking because she is a woman, and feigns forgetfulness when she brings up how rudely he dismissed her relationship with his son.

Luckily, he begins to change as he starts to look back on his life. One particular dream sets him on this path. In this dream Isak stops outside a house with boarded windows. He anxiously walks to the left of the house, but doesn’t walk more than 10 steps (the camera stops him). He walks to the right, but stops himself again. He looks up at the town clock, but there are no hands on it to tell the time. Then he sees a hearse approaching. As it moves closer, one of the wheels of the hearse gets stuck on a lamppost and the coffin falls out. As Isak moves closer to close it’s lid, the hand of his own corpse tries to pull him inside. Is he already dead?

Conclusion

Wild Strawberries is one of Ingmar Bergman’s classics. It takes a grumpy old man who doesn’t care for his family or community and shakes him with dreams and visions to try and change him. The road trip is his journey to understanding the meaning of life.

The Structure of Crystal (Poland) – Contemplate Life with Two Old Friends

The Structure of Crystal Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Be a fly on the wall as two old friends meet up after years have passed. The serene setting and conversation about the meaning of life will keep you feeling warm and calm like a mug of hot tea. Watch it here (Amazon via Mubi channel) and read more about it below.

Why watch The Structure of Crystal?

Experience life and it’s simple pleasures
Contemplate the meaning of life
Hear a beautiful soundtrack
If you’re a fan of early Ingmar Bergman (see Wild Strawberries for a perfect comparison – read more here)

The Breakdown

All we can see are two people standing on the distant horizon. They’re silhouetted against the pale sky and snow covered landscape. Their isolation is broken by a horse pulled sleigh which slowly makes it way past them. You can tell it’s going to be a slow and serene film; if that’s what you’re looking for you’re in for a treat.

The film takes place in rural Poland. The two people in the opening scene are Jan and his wife, both of them waiting for Jan’s old friend Marek to arrive. They studied Physics together at university but their paths have diverged since. Jan got married and moved to the remote countryside whilst Marek carried on studying physics and now travels the world with his degree.

The director perfectly captures the awkwardness of two old friends seeing each over for the first time in years. There’s lots of hugs and small talk, but neither of them really say anything to each other apart from how happy they each are to see each other. The feeling is perfectly captured when they all sit quietly at the dinner table not saying anything. The only thing you can hear is the clashing cutlery and the ticking clocks, emphasising that Marek’s stay is limited.

“I thought I had so much to tell you but now you’re hear I don’t know what to say”

Jan can’t break the small talk or silence, but Marek assures him their old friendship will resume. They eventually get round to talking about their past and their future. Both of them try to encourage the other to adopt their lifestyle.

Ticking Clocks and Ingmar Bergman

If you’re a fan of Ingmar Bergman, you might find some similarities between this film and Bergman’s Wild Strawberries (if you haven’t seen Wild Strawberries you need to watch it here on Amazon).

Both film’s have a similar contemplative feel and serene style. Furthermore, they both explore our search for meaning in life, which in both films becomes especially significant as the professor in Wild Strawberries feels himself getting closer to death, and in this film as the ticking clocks mark the short time Jan and Marek get with each other to catch up. Ultimately, they each reflect on their own choices and find peace with the path’s they have chosen.

Image result for structure of crystal film

Conclusion

I love contemplative and serene films, but I never feel like I can do them justice in writing. Like the early Ingmar Bergman films, The Structure of Crystal is all about the tone of the film. It’s a tone which somehow makes you calm and receptive but not sleepy. It’s just like listening to someone read you an interesting book when you’re tucked up in bed.

Watch The Structure of Crystal here (Amazon). And for more similar films, check out Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries and Seventh Seal.

Illumination (Poland) – Search for Life’s Meaning in this Experimental Film

Illumination Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

If you love film and philosophy, Illumination might be the film for you. It’s like watching an existential essay: you’ll follow the main character as he stumbles through life trying to find meaning. It’s experimental and brilliant. Watch the film here (Buy on Amazon).

Image result for illumination zanussi

Why Watch Illumination?

You love philosophy (bonus points if you love existential philosophy)
Or if you love science (some parts are not for the squeamish)
Or if you don’t know what to do with your life and want to watch someone else who struggles to find meaning in theirs
It’s experimental – the editing will remind you of Bergman’s Persona (if you haven’t seen Persona watch it now)

The Breakdown

“What is illumination? Illumination is a term and concept of Augustine. We obtain knowledge by an enlightenment of the mind.”

The film starts by musing what the meaning of illumination is. Then it cuts to a half naked man taking a medical check. The camera cuts from a close up of his hand to a close up of his foot. Then someone asks the male subject for his name, his surname, his place of birth, height, and weight. In this opening, Zanussi (the director) reduces Franciszek to his physical being before we’ve had a chance to get to know him. This raw physical being is the starting point of this philosophical film essay.

After we meet Franciszek the film flashes to ‘reality’. You’ll see footage of the moon landing, and troops marching ready for war. These images quickly provide us with context. From them we can assume that the film is set in the late 1960s/early 1970s during the Cold War between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. These cuts of footage are also included to disrupt the rhythm of the film. Zanussi includes a lot of interjections like this in his film to intentionally jumble up the story. His intention is to show us the mess of images we see during our lifetimes and to make it difficult to follow the film, to reflect the struggle to find meaning in life.

Conclusion and What to Watch Next

There is a story-line in Illumination (the story of Franciszek) but it is hard to follow. Zanussi only uses Franciszek’s life as a framework for the film’s progression. Franciszek’s struggle to find enlightenment is the framework for the film’s commentary on the world’s struggle to find meaning in life. (Warning: you may be filled with existential angst/dread when watching this film).

First up, you need to watch Ingmar Bergman’s Persona if you haven’t already. It’s one of the best explorations of the human psyche (and at a level above David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive).

For more from Zanussi, I strongly recommend watching The Structure of Crystal before this one. It’s easier to watch and is one of those films that makes you feel at peace with life and death (a bit like Wild Strawberries).

Or for more straight up philosophy check out the stream of conscious genius of My Dinner With Andre.

Cries and Whispers (Sweden) – A Brutal Family Drama

Cries and Whispers Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

This is the ultimate malfunctioning family. One of the three sisters is dying, but the other two are preoccupied with their own lives. Watch this amazingly coloured film if you are looking for a brutal family drama. It’s not for the faint hearted!

Here’s three reasons to watch along with the film’s eerie soundtrack

Why Watch Cries and Whispers?

This is brutal family drama Shakespearean style
If you want to see a bit more from celebrated Swedish director Ingmar Bergman outside his big three (Seventh Seal, Persona, and Wild Strawberries)
For another exploration of life and death (this exploration is far more disturbing than Bergman’s Wild Strawberries)
To see some more beautiful colours (just as you just saw in Jude’s Scarred Hearts)

The Breakdown

The film starts with the colour red. The only other thing we can perceive is the chimes of a small bell. Next, we see shots of statues and trees in what looks like a misty churchyard. After a few cuts, the misty churchyard fades into redness.

The red themes continue into the films beautiful red and white pictures (see below).

Image result for ingmar bergman cries and whispers — Vivid red and white palette used in Cries and Whispers

The colour grades are beautifully vivid, but why does Bergman use red and white? Well as put by Bergman below, the red represents the soul. You will notice that the red fades as the film progresses – along with the souls of the characters.

“Cries and Whispers is an exploration of the soul, and ever since childhood, I have imagined the soul to be a damp membrane in varying shades of red”

Another thing that fades as the film progresses is time. From the start you’ll hear the chimes of bells and clocks ticking. You’ll even see shots of clock faces that break up the film narrative. However, just like the fading of the vivid reds (that represent the soul), the images and sounds of time will fade. Agnes, and the other characters, are losing their time on earth.

Conclusion

Cries and Whispers is another dark Bergman film to satisfy your inner demons. It explores life and death and finds emptiness in one of the most vividly coloured sets I’ve seen. Watch this one after you’ve seen Wild Strawberries, Seventh Seal, and Persona to expand your film knowledge of the fantastic Ingmar Bergman.

Unknown Land (Yemen) – Dreaming on the Island of Socotra

Unknown Land Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

How much do you know about the Arab Spring in Yemen? If you followed the news, chances are you probably know more as the residents of Socotra. That’s because this alien looking island is approx. 380km from the Yemeni mainland and therefore untouched by the mainland’s politics. Unknown Land is a portrait of life on the island and the wandering thoughts of a half dead sailor, marooned on the island following a shipwreck.

Why Watch Unknown Land?

To see the uniquely beautiful landscape of the island of Socotra
If you like listening to dreamy narratives
For it’s musical interludes
To feel truly isolated from the rest of the world

The Breakdown

At the start of Unknown Land a man is washed onto one of the pristine beaches of island of Socotra. It appears that all of his energy was sucked out of him as he struggled to stay afloat after his shipwreck. All he can do is reflect on his past life and make peace with his past choices as he approaches death.

Meanwhile in one of the town’s of Socotra, a old man listens to an old radio as he smokes from a pipe fashioned from a goat horn. The radio gives us our only connection to the outside world. We hear that a sailing boat has sunk off of the shores of Socotra and all of the crew have gone missing. We also hear about the Yemeni protests on the mainland, but the old man’s indifference shows that these are insignificant to the inhabitants of Socotra. The island is too far away to be affected by what happens on the mainland.

The island’s isolation is reflected in the serene footage of Socotra. Firstly, the alien plants and landscape are unlike anything you’ve seen before. There are trees which look like spindly umbrellas, and mountains that disappear into pristine white beaches and emerald coloured sea. Secondly, the islands inhabitants rarely get any dialogue on screen, so you never get to connect with them. This is particularly noticeable with the old man who reappears throughout the film smoking from the same goat horn with a blank stare. The director deliberately emphasises the alien setting and distant people to make the island appear even more remote and dreamy.

Conclusion and What to Watch Next

If you’re into dreamy narratives and alien landscapes, then check out Unknown Land. However, if you’re more of an action thriller fan, it’s best you check out some film difficulty level 2 or 3 films before you watch this.

For another dreamy film from the Middle East, check out Ahlaam (literally translated as dream) from Iraq. It follows a few Iraqis before and after the Iraq War. Otherwise, if you’re looking for something surreal from the Middle East, check out The Challenge. It’s your chance to live the life of the richest Sheikhs in Qatar.

Or if you’re simply looking for easy to watch films from the Middle East, check out some of the following (they’re all great):

Wadjda: A Saudi Arabian coming of age tale featuring an awesome little girl
About Elly: A slow-burning thriller from Iran (although not the film to watch before you go on a big family holiday)
Silvered Water: A portrait of war-time Syria, a great documentary constructed from first-hand footage to experience the horrors of the Syrian conflict.