Review of Winter Light (1963) by Mike B — 24 Aug 2008

It's rural Sweden in 1962. Outside, in the grey, icy winds of winter's light, the radio brings news of the newest addition to world madness: the Chinese State news has announced that they now have THE BOMB and will use it if anyone tries to attack them. This news has become the final straw for a man in Vicar Tomas Ericsson's flock. As the good Pastor speaks to his flock before offering the communion of Christ's body and blood, Jonas Persson and his wife Karin come up to take their wafer and wine.

Jonas has become deeply depressed by what is happening in the world. It seems to Jonas that God doesn't care about the very possible annihilation of the human race by their own hand. Perhaps Jonas has discovered that when he prays, he is talking to himself. Perhaps Jonas has a chemical imbalance in his brain which makes him more sensitive to the plight of humanity than others. In any event, Jonas has been acting strangely and he needs to speak with someone who might comfort him with the love of Christ or so thinks Karin, his wife. After the church service is over, Karin asks Pastor Ericsson to speak with Jonas.

Tomas is very unsure of his place in the world. Like Jonas, Tomas has been in the process of losing his faith. He looks at the tortured, bloody Christ on the wall of his church and shudders at the absurdity this bizarre image now implies to him. Tomas is wondering why God has never spoken to him.

Märta speaks with Tomas, sometimes even more than Tomas wants her to. She loves Tomas; but Märta is not a believer. Nevertheless, Märta wants Tomas to love her, not just make love to her. She sees in him a man of caring integrity. Tomas cannot return her love. Like his religion, for him true love only comes around once. Thus, he cannot betray his wife, even though his wife has been dead for years. He can sleep with Märta and has done for years; but he cannot love her.

"Winter Light" follows "Through a Glass Darkly" as the second in Bergman's introspective, existentialist examination of meaning in life. It is a film about love and how love relates to God and how that if God is silent, this may be an indication that God is dead.

But dead to whom?

Märta obviously is capable of love. So is Karin. The question is, "Why can't Jonas and Tomas see what's before their eyes?" Why do these men of high integrity and moral sensitivity turn away from love and life? Is it a question of being so concentrated on the distant perfection of the forest for so long that they cannot see the trees in front of their face anymore?

Toward the end of the film, a simple church member who has been crippled rather severely for years comes to the good pastor and asks him a theological question, a question of faith, a question about Jesus:

Algot Frövik, Sexton: The passion of Christ, his suffering... Wouldn't you say the focus on his suffering is all wrong?

Tomas Ericsson, Pastor: What do you mean?

Algot Frövik, Sexton: This emphasis on physical pain. It couldn't have been all that bad. It may sound presumptuous of me - but in my humble way, I've suffered as much physical pain as Jesus. And his torments were rather brief. Lasting some four hours, I gather? I feel that he was tormented far worse on an other level. Maybe I've got it all wrong. But just think of Gethsemane, Vicar. Christ's disciples fell asleep. They hadn't understood the meaning of the last supper, or anything. And when the servants of the law appeared, they ran away. And Peter denied him. Christ had known his disciples for three years. They'd lived together day in and day out - but they never grasped what he meant. They abandoned him, to the last man. And he was left alone. That must have been painful. Realizing that no one understands. To be abandoned when you need someone to rely on - that must be excruciatingly painful. But the worse was yet to come. When Jesus was nailed to the cross - and hung there in torment - he cried out - "God, my God!" "Why hast thou forsaken me?" He cried out as loud as he could. He thought that his heavenly father had abandoned him. He believed everything he'd ever preached was a lie. The moments before he died, Christ was seized by doubt. Surely that must have been his greatest hardship? God's silence.

Tomas Ericsson, Pastor: Yes...

"I think I have made just one picture that I really like, and that is Winter Light?Everything is exactly as I wanted to have it, in every second of this picture." ? Ingmar Bergman.

See this film. Buy it, if you have to; but see it.