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Morten_5 The 24th feature film directed by Swedish film legend Ingmar Bergman, "Winter Light" stars some of Bergman's favourite actors, including Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand, Max von Sydow and Allan Edwall. With amazing, masterful cinematography by Sven Nykvist, the movie was shot partly in Dalarna, Sweden. Depicting the loss of faith of small town priest, "Winter Light" is, as most of Bergman's films, full of impressively well-written dialogue and great acting.

kapelusznik18 ***SPOILERS*** One of Ingmar Beregman's most depressing films has everyone in it on the brink of doing themselves in and in one case fisherman Jonas Persson, Max von Sydow, does. The movie has to do in a day in the life of Lutheran Pastor Thomas Ericsson, Gunnar Bjornstrand, who's just about had it with the church whom he feels after all these years of being part of it let him and the world at large down. This all started some 25 years ago when he was involved-preaching for peace-in the Spanish Civil War and witnessed the horrors in it. Now in 1962 he's confronted with a gaunt and suicidal looking Jonas who's terrified that the Communist Chines well soon detonate-they did in 1964- an atomic bomb that will lead to WWIII.After giving Jonas his usual BS story about love and peace, that he in fact doesn't at all believe in, being the way to go the poor man leaves his chapel and on his way home sits down by a tree and blows his brains out. This is nothing compared to what Thomas is later confronted with in middle age spinster & substitute teacher Marta Lundberg, Ingrid Thulin, who was hiding behind the curtains who shows up and gives him this long and boring story about how much she loves the guy and wants him to marry her, in a letter she mailed him, before he himself who's in danger of contracting pneumonia kicks off.It's here in regard to the sobbing Marta that Thomas, who looked like he had already one foot in the grave, suddenly comes alive and lets all his feeling about God and Marta as well as the world situation come to the surface. In that the man of God doesn't believe in anything good anymore and just wants to start a new life as a carpenter or druggist in town and forget all that he was thought in divinity school that he now feel was total BS. Marta for her part instead of getting more depressed sees that the man she's in love with and wants his support is in fact far more screwed up in the head then she ever was or even possibly will be.***SPOILERS*** The by now totally out of it Thomas after letting it all out in the wash now goes back to give his speech to those assembled in his church, about a half dozen, about the glory of God and how the entire world is filled with it. Which earlier he had totally rejected as a by now understanding Marta realizes just how off the wall he is being one of the few listening in on his sermon. The world is what we not God makes it which is why we were given free will to do good or bad without his-God's-interference or influence in our actions. Strak black & white photography as well as bleak wintry scenery makes this Bergman film far more depressing then it really is. After seeing it you feel that there's no hope for the world and mankind. But it's Thomas suddenly realizing that's the way it's supposed to be in order to overcome one's depressions, like it seemed that Marta did, that it makes life worth both living as well as suffering through it.

poetcomic1 Sven Nykvist the cameraman and Ingmar Bergman came alone to the main church used in the film Winterlight. Arriving before dawn the two of them stayed till nightfall while Sven Nykvist took hundreds of still photographs of the movement of the daylight throughout the church.For the Christian, God is there always as light - sometimes 'through a glass darkly' (the title of another Bergman film) or in a blaze of glory as when Liv Ullmann prays in the later film, Saraband.Ingmar Bergman says and Sven Nykvist himself says THIS film was his breakthrough as a cameraman - a mystic of light.If you study the light in each frame of this remarkable film - it is alive, a 'character' in the film. The fact that the film is black and white emphasizes and purifies the role of light in the film in a way that color would not.

zjconnolly In the film Winter Light, we follow a pastor through a day sermon and emotional turmoil. Haunted by the passing of his wife, Tomas has questions on whether God truly exists. This film deals with the Silence of god, which Bergman explores in his next film, The Silence. The film starts with a bleak service in a small Swedish town with very few patrons attending. We see the look of doubt on his face and the various looks of trust, hope and doubt on the patrons faces as he serves them holy communion.Tomas, the pastor, is visited by a sailor, Jonas, and his wife about some concerns Jonas is having with the looming dread of China developing an atomic bomb. Jonas has trouble speaking and Tomas has trouble hiding his doubt of faith from Jonas so he asks him to return later. Soon Tomas is visited by a woman,Marta, who is an atheist but seems to show a romantic interest in the pastor while he remains indifferent. She mentions a note she had given him and asks if he had read it. He states that he hasn't. He is also sick with a cold and begins to have coughing fits which give Marta concern and drives her to beg him to marry her. He remains indifferent and she eventually leaves. Later the pastor reads the note in which the film cuts to a close of Marta speaking the words that are written on the page. This shot is a few minutes long and one of the most emotional in the film. She reveals that they have had a past romantic relationship and then sums up Tomas as a frightened man for ignoring Marta after she had a disgusting skin problem on her hands. She berates him and calls him shallow, all while looking directly into our eyes. Tomas is again visited by Jonas and this time Tomas tries again to advise him with faith but ends up admitting he has no faith. This discourages Jonas and he leaves. Marta comes around again and tries to embrace Tomas but he still remains indifferent. Then a woman comes to tell that Jonas had committed suicide with a shotgun. Tomas goes to the site of the body and then leaves with Marta. Back at Martas school house, she chastises him for not giving her attention and breaks into phony tears. Then, in a moment of truth and frustration, he reveals how sickened he was by her rash and how the only woman he loved was his wife and she could never possibly fill that void. Then her tears are real.Marta is crushed but agrees to take Tomas to Jonas' home. Tomas goes to the house of Jonas to inform his wife of her passing. She breaks down and Tomas offers a feeble attempt of counsel and leaves. Then, Marta and Tomas go to the second church to perform a 3'O clock service but the only people there are his Algot, a sexton, and Frederik the organist. Algot as a character is a contrast to Tomas because he is disfigured and yet has a more solid foundation of faith than that of Tomas. Algot talks to Tomas about the emphasis of the brief, physical punishment of Christ and its relevance when the more hurtful thing was that nobody understood Christs message and his followers who abandoned him. He asks "Wasn't God's Silence worse?" to which Tomas replies "Yes." This time, no one has shown up to the church and Algot asks if they should perform the service. But, Marta is there and the film ends at the beginning of the service. The film is an interesting one because it questions those who are in the position to provide people with counsel about there faith. Throughout the course of the film it becomes clear that Tomas is not fit to provide counsel to anyone because he has lost his faith. Like most of Bergman's films, it is bleak in tone and the subject matter is very taken very seriously. The use of black and white and simple set design reflect the despair that affects the principal characters and plot of the film. I feel sorry for the character of Tomas because of his confusion and depression after having faith in a God who does not communicate and brought him much sadness by taking his wife. I believe the films is an extension of Bergmans own doubt in his faith and also a critique of the state of the church in Sweden at the time. Technically, I found the film great and Berman is masterful in the way he constructs characters, relationships and scenes in a realistic, simple and dramatic manner. Though I am not a man of faith, I can understand a faithful mans point of view and could understand both the depressed, confused contradiction of Tomas and the reason for Bergman to make this film in order to explore his own doubts of faith and call others to do the same.