LOOKING BEYOND THE TEXT

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 377.

THE MAN AND THE MOVIES

UNIT 2

Source: http://www.bbc.com/travel/blog/20120612-ethical-traveller-vacationing-down-on-the-farm

Europe and beyond

Many of Europe's farmhouse vacations are more likely to offer B&B accommodations without the opportunity to help feed the chickens. If you're looking to get your hands dirty, Germany's Landtourismus.de identifies farm stays that encourage you to harvest potatoes and care for your new barnyard friends (click on the “cooperation possible” link). If your idea of appreciating nature is more along the lines of watching the sunset while sipping an earthy chianti, Italy's agritourismo.net lists accommodations with nearby wine tours. Australianfarmstay.com.au features farms that combine both hands-on activities, like bottle-feeding and milking goats, with high-end amenities, like a morning hot-air balloon ride capped off with a glass of champagne.

Lori Robertson writes the Ethical Traveller column for BBC Travel. You can send ethical dilemmas to bbcethicaltravel@gmail.com.

I. Read an extract from Ingmar Bergman's biography from Encyclopedia of World Biography (notablebiographies.com). Answer the questions.

1. What themes were interesting for Bergman?

2. How can you characterize his style as a director?

3. What artistic tendencies can you observe?

4. What could be the key-words for his work?

5. Which of his films would you like to watch and why?

In 1945 Bergman directed his first film, Crisis, the story of an unhappy love affair which ends in suicide (taking one's own life). Several films followed closely, but in 1956 Bergman reached the peak of critical and popular praise with The Seventh Seal. The Seventh Seal is a morality (having to do with the difference between wrong and right) play about a knight who, seeking to satisfy his religious doubts and unravel the mystery of the universe, challenges Death to a game of chess. Even Bergman's critics agree that this film has visual daring with great dramatic power.

A year later Bergman directed Wild Strawberries, a touching study of the difference between youth and old age. With his next film, The Magician (1959), Bergman returned to his earlier use of symbolism, where objects or events are used to represent something else. It is the story of a group of wandering magicians and their encounters with otherworldly spirits. The Virgin Spring followed in 1960, as well as several lesser works.

In 1961 Bergman embarked upon his ambitious trilogy (three works), beginning with Through a Glass Darkly, an intense, almost hysterical, study of family violence. The second contribution, Winter Light (1962), presents the emptiness which follows loss of faith. The final portion, The Silence (1963), explores the problems of noncommunication. The trilogy is concerned with the problem of God's absence rather than His presence, and with the pain stemming from personal isolation rather than the puzzle of human existence itself. It represents Bergman's increasingly complex view of the world.

This sophistication is also evident in the coldly poetic Persona (1966). This film tells of a bizarre relationship between a young actress who has lapsed into complete silence and the talkative nurse who cares for her. The Hour of the Wolf (1968), about an artist who is haunted by specters (ghosts), marks what some feel is a regrettable return to Bergman's earlier use of mysticism, or a spiritual search.

Due to tax problems Bergman spent much of the 1970s overseas, where he produced work for television in Norway and Germany as well as in Sweden. His major theatrical films of this period include Cries and Whispers (1971) and Autumn Sonata (1978). Highly regarded among the television work are Scenes from a Marriage (1973) and The Magic Flute of the same year.

In 1982 Bergman released one of his most autobiographical films, the richly detailed Fanny and Alexander. Announced as his final film, it brings together many different themes from his previous works and is seen as a powerful summary of his life and career.

Source: http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ba-Be/Bergman-Ingmar.html#b

II. Comment on the following trivia and personal quotes. What do they tell us about the great director, his life and work?

· Father of nine children. They include director Daniel Bergman, actress Anna Bergman, actor Mats Bergman, director Eva Bergman, director Jan Bergman, actress Lena Bergman, airline captain Ingmar Bergman Jr., writer Linn Ullmann, and writer Maria won Rosen.

· Inspired the word "Bergmanesque"

· Among Woody Allen's biggest idols.

· Was chosen the world's greatest living filmmaker by "Time" magazine (11 July 2005).

· His grandmother introduced Ingmar to the cinema and went with him to several shows when he was a little boy, always in secrecy since he wasn't allowed to go to the movies by his strict father.

· Among his fellow directors, he listed the three most significant to him as Federico Fellini, Victor Sjöström and Akira Kurosawa.

Þ “The theater is like a faithful wife. The film is the great adventure - the costly, exacting mistress.”

Þ “No form of art goes beyond ordinary consciousness as film does, straight to our emotions, deep into the twilight room of the soul.”

Þ “I write scripts to serve as skeletons awaiting the flesh and sinew of images.”

Þ “To shoot a film is to organize an entire universe.”

Source: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000005/bio