6 of 6

It would be inappropriate to label Bergman a Christian filmmaker. The son of a Puritanical Lutheran cleric, he has long since renounced his childhood faith and turned instead toward something that might be described as existential humanism. Bergman is, however, a profoundly religious artist, by which I mean that he is deeply concerned, first and foremost, with the struggles of the human condition in light of the presence—or, in his case, the absence—of God. For Bergman, there is no hope of heavenly redemption; salvation is possible only through intimate and loving communion with others.

For Christians, such a worldview will necessarily be bleak and nihilistic. Bergman, however, renders his humanist struggles masterfully and with considerable grace, eliciting from his viewers what Frank Burch Brown has called the experience of "negative transcendence": "God appears only as the Absent One, as that which is signified only by the depth of the artfully expressed yearning" (Good Taste, Bad Taste, Christian Taste, 120).

Bergman's acknowledged masterpieces are The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries (1957), Persona (1966), Cries and Whispers (1972), and Fanny and Alexander (1986). Cries and Whispers is my favorite, but one or two graphic scenes might make some viewers uncomfortable. I would recommend, instead, Bergman's religious chamber trilogy: Through a Glass Darkly (1961), Winter Light (1963), and The Silence (1963). It is in these films, made relatively early in his career, that Bergman makes his struggle with God most explicit. Winter Light, in particular, is a stunning film. The story of a minister in a small town parish who has lost his faith, it refuses pat answers in its critique of religious ritual and hypocrisy. Christian film viewers should wrestle with the film's final image, which, as even Bergman acknowledged, can be read as evidence of God's active presence in our fallen world.

Film Forum will return in two weeks: Adam Sandler gives an Oscar-worthy performance in Punch-drunk Love. But is the film any good?

Copyright © 2002 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

first page |  6 of 6

share this page

October (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46