***SPOILERS ***
A movie this week I don't think I would have ever chosen to watch having read the premis. That's the good thing about doing these movie challenges, you get to see movies, you would never otherwise have watched.
I'm not going to do a blow by blow account of the movie. This is the Swedish movie made in 1960, that 'Last House on the Left' was based on. Although there are very good things to be said about both LHOTL movies (1972 and 2009), this movie is an altogether different experience. Whereas I would describe its successors are exploitation movies, this is not on any level. Its a deep movie that makes you think, that does disturb you, but in a different way.
To start with the cinematography in this movie is just beautiful! It is a joy to watch aesthetically. From a story point of view its heartbreaking. We see the young, beautiful, but very naive and innocent daughter (Karin) of a religious couple raped and murdered by 2 herdsmen when she is delivering candles to a church. This is all witnessed by her pregnant adoptive sister and maid (who is stunningly beautiful it has to be said) and a young boy who is with the herdsmen.
Unwittingly the men seek shelter at the girls parents home and try to sell the clothes they stripped off her body after they had killed her, alerting them to what had happened.
The parents being deeply religious people opens up all sorts of questions when they seek revenge for their daughters murder and kill the herdsmen. The father seems to question his faith when wondering how something like this could possibly happen, but at the same time he wants to make up to god for what he has done, so he promises to build a church on the site of where his daughters body was found. A virgin spring has sprung forth from where she was found and her parents heartbreakingly wash their daughter in it.
I found this movie very thought provoking and beautiful to watch. My skin crawled towards the herdsmen characters. They were repugnant. The actual rape scene was horrid and although not graphic, it was very matter of fact and to the point. There is no soundtrack to this movie. No music to set a mood, or to tell us how we should feel or cover an uncomfortable scene with peril. This made the rape scene all the more nasty for me.
The murder of Karin and the herdsmen is again very to the point and not blood thirsty but is oddly effective. I liked how fire was used in a scene with one of the herdsmen and the reality of how the father throws the young boy against a wall in his grief.
This movie is certainly not for everyone, but I for one enjoyed it. It was very different from anything I have watched before and I found it refreshingly different. I would recommend it to all movie fans who like to unearth little hidden treasures.
Thumbs up from me.
Showing posts with label Virgin Spring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Virgin Spring. Show all posts
Saturday, 26 January 2013
Virgin Spring - Will's Review
This week, I watched our scheduled move one Sunday (the first 'legal' day) which I thought would give me plenty of time to write a review... But every day I've sat down, determined to put fingers to keys (or thumbs to touch screen) and come up with... Nothing; so here I sit, Friday night, still trying to think of enough to say by Saturday.
It's not that the film was bad, as such; it was certainly well shot, and there's lots here for film students and media studies types to get all chin-stroky about... But that's not my thing.
In its day, I'm sure the matter-of-factness of things like the rape scene and the fathers subsequent revenge were a revelation. I can see that the lingering, thoughtful shots, the way the camera stays behind the father, allowing him to stand in the distance and contemplate what he has done, would have been, in 1960, a revelation to many film makers, and I understand that they have shaped movie making in a way we still see today.
But that's the problem; we see them today. All the time. By being innovative, it's methods have become the norm; 53 year later, they don't seem so impressive.
So the movie has to stand on it's own two feet, in 2013, as a piece of entertainment. And it doesn't.
Like every rape-revenge movie that has followed it, 2/3rds of the film pass before we get to the 'rape / revenge' part; Until that point, it's a fairly run-of the mill medieval set black and white drama about a religious 'Lord of the Land' type, and his household; the type of movie I used to find my gran watching on channel four on a Sunday afternoon (and think 'why?').
Unlike it's more recent copy-cats, the revenge when it comes is swift, and matter of fact; yes it's brutal, but at the same time it's over far too quickly to have any real impact, or (to me at least) satisfactory emotional payoff.
It's not that the film was bad, as such; it was certainly well shot, and there's lots here for film students and media studies types to get all chin-stroky about... But that's not my thing.
In its day, I'm sure the matter-of-factness of things like the rape scene and the fathers subsequent revenge were a revelation. I can see that the lingering, thoughtful shots, the way the camera stays behind the father, allowing him to stand in the distance and contemplate what he has done, would have been, in 1960, a revelation to many film makers, and I understand that they have shaped movie making in a way we still see today.
But that's the problem; we see them today. All the time. By being innovative, it's methods have become the norm; 53 year later, they don't seem so impressive.
So the movie has to stand on it's own two feet, in 2013, as a piece of entertainment. And it doesn't.
Like every rape-revenge movie that has followed it, 2/3rds of the film pass before we get to the 'rape / revenge' part; Until that point, it's a fairly run-of the mill medieval set black and white drama about a religious 'Lord of the Land' type, and his household; the type of movie I used to find my gran watching on channel four on a Sunday afternoon (and think 'why?').
Unlike it's more recent copy-cats, the revenge when it comes is swift, and matter of fact; yes it's brutal, but at the same time it's over far too quickly to have any real impact, or (to me at least) satisfactory emotional payoff.
But perhaps that's the point; if we consider the closing scenes of Wes Craven's quasi-remake (last house on the left), we see there too that the 'revenge' chi ever nothing of note - the family remains incomplete and broken. Maybe that's how it should be.
Unlike Last House, The Virgin Spring continues to follow the father for a shot time after his revenge, to show us the emptiness, the realization that he has done things he perhaps should not. As a very religious man, we see him try to reconcile the events of the movie, both his daughters ordeal and his own reaction, with his faith; that's potentially interesting, but was for me too calm and easily resolved (or accepted). There was also a small supernatural element, which to me felt out of place.
So there it is, it's beautiful, but dated and a little dull; I wouldn't mark it 'avoid', as I like to reserve that for films I feel completely wasted my time, but I'm a long way from recommending it.
If I were you, I'd stick to Last House (70s or 2000s versions) or I Spit on Your Grave (again, 70s or 2000s).
As I wrote that last paragraph, it occurred to me that maybe there's a reason that both of those films have a very direct remake; where as there is only one Virgin Spring...
If I were you, I'd stick to Last House (70s or 2000s versions) or I Spit on Your Grave (again, 70s or 2000s).
As I wrote that last paragraph, it occurred to me that maybe there's a reason that both of those films have a very direct remake; where as there is only one Virgin Spring...
Sunday, 20 January 2013
Week 88 - Virgin Spring
Alternate Titles : The Virgin Spring, Jungfrukällan
Year: 1960
Reviews / Author Comments due: 26/01/2013
Reason for Inclusion: This movie was loosly remade as 'nasty' Last House on the left. Also, believed to be the first film with on-screen vomiting.
BBFC Status: Passed uncut in 1994
DVD: LINK
Feel free to use the comments section of this post to add your own reviews and thoughts about this movie.
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