Ingmar Bergman: 1918-2007

The Swedish born, death obsessed movie and stage director, with whom I share a birthday, has passed away at the age of 89. Bergman known for such films as The Seventh Seal and Fanny & Alexander was a favorite of critics and art-house types the world over. His films were dark mediation's on humanity and mortality and tended to be the exact opposite of what you might call a popcorn film. Religious overtones were also commonly present, perhaps a result of growing the son of the official Lutheran minister of the King of Sweden. I was pleased to read an article several years ago in which Bergman confessed he had finally made peace with his mortality, death having been the spectral bugaboo that brought dread to his mind since childhood. But it was that fear of death that added to the residence of many of his films, especially The Seventh Seal, and probably provoked him to the impressive output he left behind. Now might be a good time to sample some of that work, I know I intend to.