Det sjunde inseglet (1957)

	Also Known As: The seventh seal, Le septième sceau, Das siebente Siegel
	Year of first release: 1957
	Director: Ingmar Bergman
	Actors: Max von Sydow, Bibi Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand, Bengt Ekerot
	Country: S
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 23.07.2014, Atlantis, OV
Synopsis: A Knight (Max von Sydow) and his squire (Björnstrand) are home from the crusades. Black Death is sweeping their country. As they approach home, Death (Ekerot) appears to the knight and tells him it is his time. The knight challenges Death to a chess game for his life. The Knight and Death play as the cultural turmoil envelopes the people around them as they try, in different ways, to deal with the upheaval the plague has caused.
Review: In July, there is Das Arthausfestival, a serie of relatively old movies shown in remastered quality in the movie theaters of Bremen. The third movie I see is this one. The idea of the story is amazing. A mortal defying the Death and playing chess with him. The acting and face of both von Sydow and Ekerot fits perfectly to their roles. As in the Down by law seen a few days before, the black and white picture enhances a lot the personality of these characters. The Swedish language or the speaking of the actors does not accentuate the great dialogues about the human condition and meaning of life. And these dialogues could have been more with regard to the other dialogues about real life, eating, flirting, fighting, etc. But the balance is necessary to the rythm of the movie. The contrast is even larger as not much happens in the real life scenes. With more density, it would have been a good balance. But here I have the impression of having seen a great movie with boring scenes. Despite an excellent idea and directing, the whole movie is not excellent.
Rating: 6 /10