The Virgin Spring Review- By Michael Carlisle

Title: The Virgin Spring
Year: 1960
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Country: Sweden
Language: Swedish

 
Ingmar Bergman is undoubtedly one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. He is to Swedish Cinema what Kurosawa is to Japanese Cinema or Fellini is to Italian Cinema.. Many agree that he is an ingenious man, including myself. I have personally reviewed Persona, Cries and Whispers, The Seventh Seal, Fanny and Alexander and  Wild Strawberries so far but I am just getting started. The second film that I saw of his was The Virgin Spring and boy was it challenging.

Bergman's film is set in beautiful 14th century Sweden. It is a sad yet powerful story about a pair of wealthy parents whose virginal daughter is brutally raped and murdered by goat herders after her half sister has invoked a pagan curse. In an odd twist it seems that these murderers ask for food and shelter from the dead girl's parents, who eventually discover the truth about these fiends and decided to exact revenge.

The Virgin Spring is one of Ingmar Bergman's most bleak and disturbing films, it won an Oscar for Bergman and has been remade several times; most famously into the 1972 exploitation horror film The Last House on the Left. Though while The Last House on the Left was made as a cheap shock film, The Virgin Spring  proves to be much more intelligent. It is layed and poetic, combining many themes such as Christianity, Paganism, questioning religious faith, vengeance, sexual innocence and justice. Themes of nihilism also run throughout the film, a displaying lack of human emotion particularly with the herdsman.

Very rarely in films is the theme of "revenge" ever handled carefully with emotional intelligence and incredible seriousness. Films like Django Unchained, Kill Bill and Death Wish are exploitative in their violence, only really serve to entertain and try their best to make the hero look like a...heroic figure. This film shows the consequence of violence and murder in an incredibly realistic way. It is also shot brilliantly with extraordinary pacing. The utmost seriousness of the story combined with the visual beauty of the film make this a rare treat even if you'll need a box of tissues.

 "God, you saw it...you saw it. The death of an innocent child and my vengeance. You allowed it to happen. I don't understand you. I don't understand you. Yet still I ask your forgiveness.

In conclusion, there is a lot to learn about life and humanity from The Virgin Spring. It is a film that may be difficult to watch due to the subject matter but it is necessary to watch. It is quite far from most film that you will see made nowadays, though that isn't necessarily a criticism of newer films as a lot are pretty good. This is a film for the spiritual and non-spiritual, also for anybody who thinks murder is a good revenge. Praise it! 5/5