another happy bergman film ~

ingmar bergman's The Virgin Spring was the forerunner of wes craven's The Last House on the Left. if you're not familiar with the american variation on the film, let me just say that even though craven upped the sickening violence of the original story, bergman's original is still pretty horrible to watch.

unlike craven's, though, bergman's film really wrestles with the themes of revenge and justice and faith. i squirmed a lot watching this one, but found it a very powerful exploration of how one God-loving family copes with outrageous brutality and their own horror-stricken grief. most affecting is max von sydow's final lamentation to God, which isn't the angry father's condemnation that you would expect.

wonderfully even-handed ~ even though it is based on a morality tale from a medieval ballad, it's not heavy handed at all.

they just don't make 'em like this anymore.