Bergman: Image and Meaning

In other words, we cannot discount militant Marxism; it shapes even national aspirations in our age. Castro, Nkrumah, Sekou Touré adopt the socialist-totalitarian model and turn their countries into relays in a proSoviet network. Is this merely the opportunism of some Latin, Levantine and African politicians? Possibly; but in the process we are losing precisely those geopolitical and ideological advantages for which we wage wars, cold or hot the meaning. The fault is theirs, not Bergman’s; his plays are not for the mentally lazy. They initiate a dialogue in which the onlooker is supposed to be a vigorous partner. Troubling questions are put to people, questions about how we live and why we are here. Bergman’s stories, while realistic, are meant to puzzle his public. Like the pictures of Paul Klee, his films must be completed by reasoning out the why’s and what-for’s and how-come’s of the acts and words. Still, never does he snarl at the audience with a “This-is-deep-stuff-be-damned-if-you-don’t-get it” attitude. Bergman communicates, symbolically but clearly

Four Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman. Simon and Schuster, $6

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Gerhart Niemeyer

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In other words, we cannot discount militant Marxism; it shapes even national aspirations in our age. Castro, Nkrumah, Sekou Touré adopt the socialist-totalitarian model and turn their countries into relays in a proSoviet network. Is this merely the opportunism of some Latin, Levantine and African politicians? Possibly; but in the process we are losing precisely those geopolitical and ideological advantages for which we wage wars, cold or hot the meaning. The fault is theirs, not Bergman’s; his plays are not for the mentally lazy. They initiate a dialogue in which the onlooker is supposed to be a vigorous partner. Troubling questions are put to people, questions about how we live and why we are here. Bergman’s stories, while realistic, are meant to puzzle his public. Like the pictures of Paul Klee, his films must be completed by reasoning out the why’s and what-for’s and how-come’s of the acts and words. Still, never does he snarl at the audience with a “This-is-deep-stuff-be-damned-if-you-don’t-get it” attitude. Bergman communicates, symbolically but clearly

Four Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman. Simon and Schuster, $6