Oof. Such a heavy-handed, deeply religious film was not for me. There are some bits which show its heart was in the right place, such as the two pig-headed old men eventually understanding that they should set aside their squabbling over which one understands the "true" faith, but there is never a doubt about God's existence, or the importance of Christianity. The film emphasizes it again and again as it slowly lumbers through its 125 minute run time.
The protagonist of the film to me is the daughter-in-law, who smiles beatifically at those around her, including her husband who has lost faith, and his grumpy father. She radiates compassion but also the smugness of "knowing" that God is all around us, and that little miracles are taking place all the time because of Him. She's a nice, gentle person but her views are condescending, which is irritating.
There are two characters who represent possible challenges to this view, but they're woefully underdeveloped, or perhaps better put, are never really given a chance to articulate a different view. She assures her husband that his faith will come because he has goodness in his heart (hmm I wonder what will happen?), and he's quite weak in moments of crisis, because he doesn't walk "holding God's hand" as his father does. The film plays on the tired stereotype that the atheist is weak, and while sniveling under duress, will turn to God. Meanwhile after a life-threatening birthing, a doctor is allowed to ask "Which helped more this evening - your prayers, or my skill?" before driving off, but he's mistaken in his pride for what he believes the outcome to be. Neither character asks those who are religious about the contradiction between an all-powerful being in the sky who is still involved in the world, and all of its horrific suffering and cruelty, or any other hard question for that matter.
There is no real soul-searching here, and to me despite its message of healing over the schisms in religion which prevent the understanding of Christ's words and basic human kindness, the film is really quite shallow in exploring faith itself. To a tragedy, the father says "There must be some purpose in it, or it would have never happened," the ultimate non-debatable answer of a believer, not that the film tries to debate it. Unlike Bergman, Dreyer has no doubt, and presents a film that has no doubt, which in the best case is weak artistically and in the worse perpetuates a mythology that has done far more harm in the world than good. The ending is ludicrous, and I think would have been more powerful with ambiguity, or without the miracle.
The protagonist of the film to me is the daughter-in-law, who smiles beatifically at those around her, including her husband who has lost faith, and his grumpy father. She radiates compassion but also the smugness of "knowing" that God is all around us, and that little miracles are taking place all the time because of Him. She's a nice, gentle person but her views are condescending, which is irritating.
There are two characters who represent possible challenges to this view, but they're woefully underdeveloped, or perhaps better put, are never really given a chance to articulate a different view. She assures her husband that his faith will come because he has goodness in his heart (hmm I wonder what will happen?), and he's quite weak in moments of crisis, because he doesn't walk "holding God's hand" as his father does. The film plays on the tired stereotype that the atheist is weak, and while sniveling under duress, will turn to God. Meanwhile after a life-threatening birthing, a doctor is allowed to ask "Which helped more this evening - your prayers, or my skill?" before driving off, but he's mistaken in his pride for what he believes the outcome to be. Neither character asks those who are religious about the contradiction between an all-powerful being in the sky who is still involved in the world, and all of its horrific suffering and cruelty, or any other hard question for that matter.
There is no real soul-searching here, and to me despite its message of healing over the schisms in religion which prevent the understanding of Christ's words and basic human kindness, the film is really quite shallow in exploring faith itself. To a tragedy, the father says "There must be some purpose in it, or it would have never happened," the ultimate non-debatable answer of a believer, not that the film tries to debate it. Unlike Bergman, Dreyer has no doubt, and presents a film that has no doubt, which in the best case is weak artistically and in the worse perpetuates a mythology that has done far more harm in the world than good. The ending is ludicrous, and I think would have been more powerful with ambiguity, or without the miracle.