ElMaruecan82
War is the ultimate defeat of human civilization, no matter which side you belong to. Sure, some ideologies are harder to embrace than others, some sides harder to root for yet the merit of a good war movie on the field of intelligence is to challenge the obvious thoughts and ask disturbing questions: is the 'good side' morally superior when it comes on the battlefield's level? Is 'wrong' one less worthy of our sympathy?A war movie is all about challenging some conveniently preconceived notions and on that level, Ingmar Bergman's "Shame", released in 1968 at the pinnacle of the Vietnam War, takes war them to the unusual frame of banal marital routine in order to show the psychological collateral damages of war, on ordinary people. Jan and Eva live in a farmhouse, but as the story goes, we learn they are former musicians, which means they're literate enough to afford sensitivity and respect towards civilization. They probably exiled themselves to an island, driven by the 'Voltarian' will to 'cultivate their garden'; to do what any civilized person would do during a war, getting the hell out of it.But even though you don't want to come at war, war might come at you. And fates strike the couple when airplanes invade the island, providing a surprising amount of action and violence for a Bergman's film. But this change of pace is crucial to highlight the coming of a time where there's none left for introspection and thinking, when even the most intellectual people have to deal with the principle of reality, with its ugly blindness and heart-breaking neutrality. Well, as a Bergman movie, "Shame" is still a powerful character study, focusing on the evolution of a man and a woman.Jan, the husband, is detached, he doesn't care about shaving or repairing the telephone since there's not much news to hear, which explain how clueless they are about the war. He's more of a follower and it's extraordinary how a man with the stature of Max Von Sydow is capable to shrink his extraordinary physical stature to play a rather weak character. Liv is more lively, so to speak, she's the no-nonsense woman who waits for the war to be over, before having children. She's the more practical and strong-willed of the couple while Jan is more prone to headaches and states close to a nervous breakdown, he's got to be the one who'll push the couple in its downfall.We then expect the breaking point, when will it occur during this series of ill-fated events? Jan and Eva are threatened by the liberators, before being arrested by the patriots, and it doesn't matter if I mixed them up. They're accused of treason, put to jail, of course the war is as fictional as one in a secular democracy like Sweden can be but the point is to put the two sides on the same level, and show that maybe the best way not to be a victim of one is not to take side with the other. But neutrality isn't an option although Jan and Eva, out of fear and desperation, undergo the events rather than participate in.The film features many archetypal moments of war films, mass exodus, fire squads, arrest, torture, propaganda, and instruments of pressure, but I had the feeling these were used by Bergman to set the film while the focus was Jan and Eva's characters arcs. The catalysis came from the third character; a Colonel named Jacobi and played by a restrained and unrecognizable Gunnar Björnstrand. For saving them for deportation, Eva offers her body, and get money in exchange. When she's back, she finds her husband sobbing, and doesn't have one ounce of sympathy. This is perhaps Jan's lowest point, before the ultimate change.Later, Jacobi is arrested by the enemy and can only buy his freedom but Jan pretends he doesn't have the money (he found on Eva's bed earlier), signing Jacobi's death warrant; in fact, it's Jan himself who executes his rival, reaching his breaking point and definitely leaning the balance of power in his direction. Love disappeared but like only a master of emotions like Bergman could have demonstrated, one of war's defining characteristics is irony. In peace, the couple didn't live happily and despite the genuine love, something in the way Eva addressed Jan showed a bit of contempt, after Jan's 180 degree turn, they fight, they admit their hatred but they stick together as if love became a negligible entity.The film offers a fascinating character study on the devastating effects war have on civilians' minds, a mix of maturity and degeneration, something that was echoed in the famous shot from "Persona" where Alma, Liv Ullman, an actress who resigned to silence, kept staring to the famous image of the burning monk, how could she live in a world that allowed such barbarity to happen. "Shame" offers a continuation to that questioning by reminding us that we're animals before human and our survival instinct will command our realest reactions. It's only when threatened by boiling water that Ullman spoke in "Persona", it's only when threatened by war, that Jan and Eva acted according to the core of their nature.So, whether you're a fan of Bergman or war movies, this is a film that will disconcert you first, then grab your heart and hook it to the condition of Jan and Eva, who can be anyone of us. And in the light of today's events, where wars became common practice, we ought to wonder how we'd react when confronted to such ugly realities, when sometimes; there isn't time to think about life, because one of the basic aspects of life is to maintain it and for that, you've got to make the best out of things. How will our shaken principles stand … probably somewhere that'll lead to the film's title.
runamokprods
Dubbed a masterpiece by almost every critic I respect. I certainly thought was a brilliantly well made film, but one that didn't give me the kind of devastating emotional effect experienced by so many. In fact, going in knowing little about the film, part of what I liked about it would seem like sacrilege to most of those who see the film as completely, unbearably bleak. I may be insane, but I actually found a good portion of it powerfully, blackly funny, in a sort of 'Dr. Strangelove', Roy Andersson sort of way. The surreal insanity of the behavior of the soldiers and officials around our normal working-class couple seemed so exaggerated, almost Keystone Cops with guns, that it DID seem effectively anti-war, but not in the way seen by those who write of unrelieved depression and misery being where the film got its power. That said, it certainly seemed to grow ever more 'real', and by the end felt truly dramatic and haunting. I wonder how I could so misread Bergman's intentions. Certainly, if we're supposed to take the early to middle completely seriously and literally the film works much less well for me than it did, since the horrors these people are exposed to on a literal level seem like nothing compared to the victims of 'real world' wars, where they probably would have been dead very quickly. Take this for what it probably is - an odd outlier opinion, and one that may be replaced when I see the film again. But then, hopefully the occasional outlier can supply a useful alternate point of view.
Galina
This is one of the bleakest, the most harrowing of Bergman's films I've seen. I also think this is one of the most powerful films about the ugliness of war and what it does to the human souls.The couple of musicians, who left a big city for a remote island and make a living as farmers, find themselves capable of unspeakable and shameful acts that would have ordinarily been impossible for them even imagine, as they struggle to survive horrible reality of war. They betray their souls, their friends and even each other in a desperate attempt to simply survive another day. Liv Ullmann and Max Von Sydow are brilliant as usual as lost, confused, and terrified couple that got caught in the midst of a civil war.9.5/10
