The plot is a combination of Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey and Final Destination, due to our main protagonist's struggle when he is faced with imminent death and his pursuit to avoid it. In order to accomplish his goal and postpone his death, the protagonist challenges Death to a game of chess, the result of which will determine whether he lives or dies.
The movie is set in the 14th century, during the black plague. We are greeted with gruesome images of some dead bodies and one scene in which townsfolk parade the town whipping one another to please the Gods. These gruesome images do not distract from the main theme or plot, however, but only help to further the personified struggles of the time period.
The acting and directing also seem to be more theatrical as opposed to cinematic. This is something I have come to accompany with earlier Bergman films and thus accept, however if you are not used to it, it can be a trivial technique. The characters often look to the audience at something off camera and these shots can be held for an uncomfortable amount of time. We do eventually see a cut to the object of the characters attention, this technique is effective in building suspense yet it seems to be used in abundance here.
There are also events in the film which I found interesting but are never fully explained or mentioned again, transitions are often rough and not seamless. For instance, in the very beginning of the movie our protagonist plays chess with Death on the beach. We do not see what happens in this game and for what seems like a fourth of the movie it is not mentioned again.
I also spent a great portion of scenes trying to locate the protagonist yet he never seemed to be in the shots until his dialogue was required. The scene where the group goes to see the witch be burned at the stake he is not the be found until they reach the actual burn site. This is an issue with continuity I could just not get over.
One technique this movie effective employees is repeated dialogue. We open with the reading of a biblical passage about opening the seventh seal and end with it as well, this time read by the protagonist's wife. The theme of religion and the inability to know about the afterlife or be certain of the existence of a God is personified by this and motivates the entire movie. Even as the movie comes to an end we are left with no sure answer to these questions as even Death himself claims to not know.
I enjoy many of Bergman's movies and find him to an absolutely revolutionary director whom's work grows to unmeasurable proportions. This is not his greatest film and even typing this I was hesitant to point out his flaws yet this is bias as I love his later work. If you are a fan of Ingmar Bergman I highly suggest adding this movie to your library and watching it.
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