"Virgin spring" by Ingmar Bergman (1960)

Last night I have actually switched on TV (careful not to watch the news!) to see Ingmar Bergman's "Virgin spring" (1960) and enjoyed it very much.

When I was growing up, I always heard his name mentioned in the contest of something too complicated and arty, so it took some time before I finally got around to discover his work and loved it immediately, in fact wondered how is it possible that anybody dislike him - everything I have seen from Bergman was so consciously sophisticated that I watch it it like hypnotised.

I guess to many viewers today, Bergman can be difficult to approach as he lived in his own world and did not follow any accepted cliché - the budget is fairly limited, there's nothing flashy or bombastic, not even a background music, the focus is entirely on story, actors and their faces. Myself, I watch all of this with amazement and thrill, but to my greatest sorrow and disappointment, this enthusiasm is not shared amongst my friends who have accepted movies as entertainment. I still remember the first time that I encountered "The Seventh Seal" and what a mind-boggling experience that was, I wanted to stop VHS tape and write down the phrases coming from the movie. "Virgin spring" mesmerised me at first because of its scenography - medieval Sweden, simple farm with lord and his wife, house help and world where old pagan religion has still not completely replaced with Christianity. Than there is a story itself - faith, guilt, sin, crime, punishment - full of close-ups of people's faces, terrors and fears. Lots of time we don't need any dialogue, everything is clearly shown on the faces. Come to think of it, it does feel like a silent movie occasionally, which in my eyes is even bigger achievement, like theatre director working on a silent movie actually. Unforgettable.

Again, seeing something so truly original, powerful and artistic but apparently my enthusiasm is not shared amongst the people around me.
I love my friends dearly, but something I do feel like alien, to realise our ways of thinking differs so much. It is very interesting - I was born and raised here, so what on earth made my perspective so different? I guess life experiences, travels (real and imaginative) did made some differences after all. Perhaps I just continued to grow in my own, particular direction, just like they did.