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| Ingmar Bergman | 1968 |
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Click image to purchase
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 Scandinavia Torture  |
Shame begins with a noise collage made out of audio snippets from world war two: machine guns, speeches and so on. Cut to Jan {Max von Sydow} and Eva Rosenberg {Liv Ullmann} in bed asleep. The alarm clock sounds and Eva hurries into the kitchen to prepare breakfast while Jan sits on the bad and pokes at his jaw, which obviously pains him. When Eva comes back into the room and begins to get dressed, Jan launches into a description of the dream he's just had and reflects on the fact that both Jan and Eva are concert musicians. At breakfast, Jan questions Eva as to why she's always angry these days, protests that he didn't start the war, proposes they buy a bottle of wine and makes her feel the lump on his jaw.
Jan and Eva are taking a break from the war and the hustle and bustle of musical life and are spending some time in this small, rural community where they're raising vegetables to pay the bills. As they load up the truck in preparation for a trip into town, Jan confesses that he forgot to pay the telephone bill and questions the church bells he hears at this odd hour on this odd day. Upstairs, Eva gets a phone call but, upon answering, finds that there's no one on the other end of the line.
While Jan is inside getting his jacket, Eva watches as a military convoy rolls down the road that runs past the farm. On the trip into town, they stop for a minute or so to chat with Filip {Sigge Fürst} who's fishing in a small creek. Filip gives them a fish and tells them that the morning's radio broadcasts warned that there's a good chance the village will be invaded soon. In town, they drop off the mayor's lingonberries and promise to drop by and play music really soon. After selling the rest of their stock, they stop into a local shop to buy a bottle of wine and talk with a shopkeeper named Lobelius {Hans Alfredson} who is horribly depressed because he's just been drafted.
After a dinner of wine and fish and a short sexual interlude the bombing begins. An A.G. patrol stops by to tell them that paratroopers have landed nearby and that it would be best if they left the area. Naturally, it takes all afternoon to fix the truck and by the time they're ready to leave, they're attacked by the "liberating forces". The soldiers interview Eva for the news and Jan's bad heart gives out on him before they're able to interview him. As Jan slumps to the ground, fighting breaks out all around them and bullets begin to fly. The soldiers disperse immediately and Eva drags Jan inside to recuperate.
That night, while they're sleeping, the bombing starts again. This time it's very close and very intensive so they get back in the car and head off in what they think is the opposite direction. After a long drive through flames and explosions and past many dead bodies, they decide that they've gone the wrong way and head back to the house. At the house the bombing gets really intense: blowing out most of their windows and destroying a goodly portion of the farm. Somehow they make it through the day but, it is when the bombing stops that things begin to really get bad.
The world becomes a dark and evil place controlled by petty fascists and filled with murderers and thieves. Over time, even Jan and Eva begin to buckle under all of the pressure; their relationship begins to fall apart and their ethics and ideals suffer just as badly. By the film's three-quarter mark, they've become absolutely unlike their previous selves. This all manages to paint a much less than pretty picture.
This is Bergman at his best which is, to say the least, pretty incredible. This is a wonderful anti-war film that makes a point and does so really well. It features top-notch performances by some of the better actors to ever grace celluloid, some wonderful effects, much bleak, depressing footage as well as an ominous and foreboding atmosphere and manages to take advantage of just about every attribute that black and white film can offer.
Watch closely and you'll see several scenes that have been borrowed from since. This bears a few similarities to the nightmare world created/depicted in "Killing Fields" as well as a few post-apocalyptic films but, somehow, it just seems much darker here. This edition comes with a short film about the film called "The Search for Humanity" and an interview with Liv Ullman as well as commentaries and so on. It's a film with enough depth to warrant the supplements, which is fairly unusual.
