That was an excellent one.

Sadly Over-hyped

Please don't spend money on this.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Why do you want to see a movie of stone age? What is the magic flavor of it that films nowadays do not possess? Bergman's film reminds me of his profession of theatre constantly. His film, in every aspect, the theme, the setting, the scenes and the acting, is dedicated to a ritual intent. In many of the scenes, you might feel, if it's a 21 century movie, the original 5-min shots can be shortened to 30 secs. But strangely you seldom feel tedious watching these slow paced shots. Because more information (or feelings) is presented other than the set of plots. (Imagine how boring it would be if you simply tell a story of raping and revenge.) The extra information, in Bergman's case, is theatre- styled. It's not like the nowadays long shot that tries to give you a natural feeling or to immerse you in the setting, but more like a stage presentation. The position of actors, their reaction and their movements are subtly designed. The position implies the relation of people and makes part of the ritual. Every small reaction and movement conveys meaning, serving for communication, sometimes between characters, sometimes to themselves. This meaning is not meant to be life like, but more a symbolic one. The communications make most of the experience of the film, in another word, they do not serve story telling, they are the purpose of themselves. The modern technology changes story telling a lot, but this sense of theatre is timeless.

In watching these old Ingmar Bergman movies, the thought occurs to me that Bergman was to cinema what the golden age of Russian literature was to writing. His films have a certain depth to them, and feel meaty with their observations on human nature and their questions of religion and philosophy. 'The Virgin Spring', based on a 13th century Swedish ballad, is no exception.If you think about it, the story of 'The Virgin Spring' encapsulates quite a bit of the effect of religion on those who believe, starting with a girl needing to mind her chastity until marriage, and continuing on with a virgin must deliver candles for Matins. When a horrible thing happens to the girl, her companion and her mother both believe it's because of them, that God had listened to their jealous prayers, while her father is stricken and asks that time-old question, "God, how could you let this happen?" However, none of them challenge that most deeply held assertion, that God exists in the first place. After exacting brutal vengeance, including killing a child, the grief-ridden father asks God for forgiveness, and promises to build him a church on the site. He still believes in spite of it all, wants to remain upright in the best way he can conceive, and is both admirable and flawed at the same time.In telling this story with elements of Job ("Why?") and Exodus/Leviticus ("An eye for an eye"), Bergman examines human nature - the inclination to do evil, and the morality of vengeance – as well as the nature of God, and our relationship to Him. How you perceive the film's meaning will likely depend on your most personal views, but it will certainly make you think.As for the filmmaking, Bergman keeps his storytelling taut – every scene counts – and he captures plenty of great moments, including some beautiful shots of the outdoors in Sweden, and heavy emotions on the faces of his actors. One scene in particular made the film controversial, however, and no review would be complete without mentioning it. The rape is horrific, and seriously disturbing. We see evil coming as Bergman masterfully builds up tension, but are still shocked - both at the incredible cruelty of the men, but also at Bergman keeping the camera on them as they commit the act (especially for 1960). He knew he didn't have to show a lot of flesh to show how vile, disgusting, degrading, and animalistic a rape is, and it's a shame the film was banned in some places given the prevalence of rape in society. The scene speaks to the darkest aspect of man, and yet oozes authenticity.As to whether religion casts a darkness of its own on man, the shadow of ignorance, or gives his life meaning and elevates him over nihilism and chaos, the reader will have to decide, but I believe Bergman is in the latter camp with this film. He is a bit over the top at the end, hitting us over the head with the miracle of the 'virgin spring' that gushes forth, and while that's presumably how the 13th century legend goes, it's the reason I knocked my rating down a bit for what is still a very good film.

Recently, I've been really getting into the films of the great filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, who is easily one of my 10 favorite filmmakers of all time! His films are beautiful, unsettling, and, sometimes, quite disturbing. "The Virgin Spring" fits into all three of those categories.The inspiration for Wes Craven's "The Last House on the Last on the Left", this is probably the first film of the rape-and-revenge sub genre. The scenes depicting both the rape and the revenge are very unsettling and awfully shocking for a film made in 1960!While it deals with ugly content and subject matter, it looks stunning, and it is shot in beautiful black and white! Rarely is there a film that is so hard to watch, yet so lovely to look at, at the same time. It is probably one of the best looking films of all time, but so are all of the other Ingmar Bergman films I've seen!

The Virgin Spring is definitely one of the most haunting, and one of the most symbolic of all of Bergman's films. It aspires to be a spiritual journey into the deepest parts of our minds, as it makes the audience question the actions shown in the movie, but it doesn't give any answers itself. This spellbinding creation touches many important and controversial topics, such as selfishness, vengeance, superfluous brutality, sexual assault, and many notions connected with various religion (Paganism, Norse Mythology etc.). It's a deeply disquieting film, which tells a story about a unimaginably beautiful girl, who one day embarks on a journey to the church in order to light the Virgin candles. However, she never makes hit, because of two ruthless thugs, who rape and murder her in front of their young brother. And it's only the beginning. The whole shocking event makes way for a disturbing aftermath, as the killers unknowingly take shelter in the girl's parents' house. When the loving father realizes, who his guests really are, he goes berserk and finishes them off ruthlessly one after another. Even though it's human to say that killing is never the answer, some may argue whether his decision to be the judge and the executioner is justifiable or not. Fantastically paced and compellingly narrated, The Virgin Diaries proves to be a moralizing tale of the most brutal, and at the same time, most powerful kind, showing its purifying nature in the highly-aesthetic visuals.