I highly recommend watching this with the Stephen O'Malley & Peter Rehberg score. It has to be the most sublime and disturbing score for a film that really has to be one of the, if not the very best of silent films. I was absolutely involved in the protaganists's decline into despair and his fall from grace and a lot of times, it had to do with the composition of the shots than anything else and even the emotions, were destructive. Amazing gem from what has to be a great film-maker from a country that creates great films.
If you, like me, like the set-pieces where somebody wakes up with a startling gasp, gets out of bed only to discover they are still lying in it. They are dead and staring at their corpses. You should give a thought to this swedish silent movie from 1921. A double exposure was no small feat back then, and took a great deal of time to accomplish. So hats off to Victor Sjöström and Julius Jaenzon for creating a moodful set-piece that has stood the test of time.
A captivating and downbeat film about isolation. Isolation from others, society and god, and even with the melodramatic ending, it still packs a punch on viwers of today.
MCT:May 15, 2008
MCT:June 17, 2008
MCT:December 18, 2007
