The movie this week is “The Virgin Spring” and we’re back in the wacky world of Ingmar Bergman. This film tells a much simpler story than the last film with Death playing chess and witches and wild women seducing traveling performers and the plague, etc. But this film is another one of those “BIG QUESTION” films like: “Why are we here? Is there a God? If so, why do bad things happen to good people?” Not like big questions like: “Is Will Farrell ever going to make another decent film?”

In this story we follow Karin. Karin’s a virgin. How do we know this? First, she’s got that sweeter than sweeter attitude about her. She’s as pure as the driven snow and Bergman lights her as such. Though she lives on a dirty farm and everyone looks like they haven’t showered since the 13th Century – she’s stupendously beautiful and sweet. I almost expected birds and animals to come up to her and chirp in her ear. Second, they tell us. Family members talk about how the “Virgin” (and they say it glowing terms…not like how Steve Carrel was referred to) has to deliver candles to the church. And, since she’s the virgin and they’ve got the candles – best she take them. But she wants to wear her finest silk. Though she’s a virgin, she’s also a little spoiled, see, and she puts demands on her parents.

With the virgin is the whore…okay, she’s not actually a whore (I don’t think) but she is pregnant and she doesn’t look like she has showered since the 13th Century. She, too, works on the farm and she’s Karin’s hand-maiden (or something). Running the farm are Max Von Sydow as her dad with a Nordic beard (one of those beards that goes up and around the chin (see photo above) and his wife. They’ve got a couple dirtied up assistants on the farm, too.

And we’re off on a journey. Virgin and Preggers to go to the church to drop off some candles. Songs are sung (why, Ingmar, do you feel the need to insert songs?) and stories are told and – God, where IS this church(???) the conversation comes around to the Virgin’s, uh, virginity. Seems that Preggers is a bit jealous of all the attention (and even spiked the Virgin’s bread with a live frog – don’t ask) and asks her about it. Karin explains that she’ll keep it until she finds the right guy. But (foreshadow alert) Preggers asks her: “What if you get overpowered.” Karin explains (if I remember right) that she’ll fight back or it won’t happen to her or something.

Now, word of warning here, because Karin is so GAWDAWFUL perfect you just know that something bad is going to happen to her. And it does.

Distracted by an old guy in a cabin, Preggers hangs out with him leaving Karin to journey alone. Next thing you know, three guys (one being a boy) who could have stepped out of “Deliverance” come across Karin and brutally rape her and kill her. Preggers sees the act, goes to defend her, but jealous as she is…lets it happen.

The two older guys strip off the fine silk and run off into the woods leaving young boy to hang back (for some reason I never actually figured out). Eventually the boy freaks out in the falling snow and throws some dirt on Karin and runs off.

Later that day, back at the farm, the three show up at Max’s farm house and ask for a bite to eat. They are welcomed in, you see, because Max is a God-fearing man who believes in helping others. In fact, he even offers the three a job. At dinner, though, the young boy drinking his milk spits it all up and makes a bit of a spectacle of himself. He can’t handle the guilt and it’s starting to show. Do the three know they’re in the house of the girl they killed? No.

Now the tone of the film shifts from a candle delivering road movie to a: “When’s Max going to find out and what’s he going to do?”

Figuring that Karin is still okay, they head to bed. But a weird Monk senses the boy’s guilt and tries to get it out of him. But he ain’t talkin’ and after a bit of a beat-down by his older brothers he knows his place in this scheme.

But Karin’s mother senses more than Max and goes to talk to the men. When one of them, stupidly, offers to sell the very silk dress to her! And, as they say, it’s ON!

The mother locks them in their barn, tells Max and Max goes to kick some Swedish Hillbilly ASS! But first he has to deal with Preggers who has returned heartbroken and full of guilt. She admits that she saw it all and did nothing about it and that she secretly wanted it to happen, she is distraught. Her punishment? She better start making up a hot bath and quick ‘cause Max has got some birch branches that need to be cut.

Max goes and cuts down (well, actually, he pushes down a tree) and then whips his naked body (with Preggers watching) with the birch branches. To purify himself? To gird himself? Likes the smell? I have no idea – but you know that when he’s done – some killin’ is gonna happen.

With wife with him, he enters the locked barn where they’re all still asleep. He confirms his suspicions by going through their belongings and promptly kills each one – brutally. Even the boy. It is revenge done at its most primal, it’s most evil, it’s most, uh, brutal.

The revenge satisfied, they must find Karin’s body. So off they go. The farm hands, Preggers, Max and wife (who ALSO blames herself for Karin’s death). Though they go by foot they seem to make very good time and Preggers leads them right to the dirt splattered body.

At this point Max goes through some standard Religious questions: “How could you let this happen? You did nothing?!” Cursing God (side note: The priest at my church says that you’ve never really had a conversation with God until you call him a sonofbitch.), and praising God, Max realizes his futility in all of this and finally decides that he’s going to build God a church on this very spot (I don’t know who owns the land and they might have an issue with that). But when they go to move Karin…suddenly a spring of water shoots forth which, I guess, is a miracle – but it’s going to also really screw up the church building…what with water/drainage issues.

WHAT I LIKED:

I liked this film more than the previous Bergman film as this film kept the symbolism to the fringes until, obviously, the end.

Both the rape and the revenge were brutal in their honesty. These scenes were as in-your-face and terrifying as anything I have ever seen on film. This wasn’t some “mamby-pamby cut away to flowers growing” or something – it was what it was and Bergman showed it. There are images I’m still trying to shake.

The acting was very good, all around, though Karin (more the fault of the character than the actor) was so perfectly perfect that she was annoying.

I applaud Bergman for the continual pushing of the questioning religion envelope.

WHAT I DISLIKED:

I didn’t care for the “spring” at the end. It was cheesy and stupid and lessened what came before it.

OVERALL?

Wow. 89 minutes of brutal and brilliant film-making. If you can stomach it…you should watch it.

ADDENDUM TO JASON’S COMMENTS ABOUT VIOLENCE IN FILMS:

I have not watched “Last House” but have recently purchased a number of grindhouse films released by “Something Weird Video” – I think this is a great area of discussion but one that should not be tacked on after a review. My hope would be that you would start a separate thread (such as the atheist thread) and post it on facebook because I would like to get a lot of people involved.

Also note: I have not watched any of the SAW films, no “torture porn” (Hostel and the like) so my take on the violent and horrific films of the past few years so my take is decidely bent. I don’t care for films that are scary or violent mainly because I don’t see the point. It’s not that I don’t want to get scared but I’ve had my moments of not being able to sleep (after seeing “Jaws” when I was a kid) to know that I don’t care for them. I also find the continual violence towards women to be another sickening aspect of most of these films. Though, supposedly, women make up more the ticket buyers for the SAW, Hostel, etc. films (what does that say about women and society).

I look forward to what you come up with and look forward to adding to the discussion.