Sunday, April 29, 2007

My take on the Seventh Seal

So if you go down the digital road to my friend the NorthwestAnglican's blog, you will read a post about The Seventh Seal. We watched this movie together. It has been a long time since I have been able to convince anyone to watch movies that I enjoy.
In a school community where we spend so much time reading, I guess it is too much to ask somebody to read a movie with you. You see, The Seventh Seal is a Swedish film with English subtitles. I often wonder about movies that are subtitled. Too often in foreign films there are lines like this, "oko whoo whoo li li aqnata pi pi char gretalppin," and the English subtitle is "what's for breakfast?" There are simply too many words used in the native language for it warrant such a concise English translation. I guess that adds to the mystery and allure of foreign films.

So I guess I need to write a movie review to compliment Matt's review of this film. Let me keep it short. The Seventh Seal is a poignant portrayal of life and faith in post World War Two Europe. The Characters could represent any person that lived through the great war between the Axis and Allies. While watching the movie, I was busy noticing the symbolism and cinematography in the image. In the film, most characters always appeared on the same horizontal plane. There were also strong horizontal lines that framed the characters. I think these lines represented the thin divide between life and death. Well I am tired. So.... The End.