Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

George Wright I recall first viewing this movie on a Good Friday, many years ago. I was very touched by it. I wanted very much to view the movie again but never seemed to come across it on television, DVD, or even in a recent documentary on Ingmar Bergman, where there was no reference to it. Yet, Bergman considered it his best work. So hard to explain the lack of recognition. The story takes place in three hours in which Gunnar Bjornstrand as a Lutheran minister/priest conducts a service, counsels a married couple and is called to the scene of a tragedy. He also has a philosophical discussion with his sacristan who gives a stunning insight into the life of Jesus. Finally, he tells a parishioner with brutal honesty that he has no use for her, despite her desire to marry him. The priest is suffering a complete breakdown of faith, following the death of his wife a few years earlier. He cannot pull himself out of the pit he has fallen into, let alone strengthen his parishioners in their faith. The movie was made in 1962, the height of the Cold War and a time when people were beginning to walk away from their churches and their religions. The existentialism that had crept into 20th century Christianity is very evident.It is true that the movie is very grim but it is so beautifully made, the gloominess of the film is hardly important. What does matter is how effectively the sad atmosphere is shown in this unvarnished masterpiece. There is no music or humour. Some sequences move like a slide show from one shot to another, showing the bleak landscape or the sad faces of people inside the church as a series of portraits. Ingrid Thulin and Max Von Sydow also give strong performances but the sadness and honesty of Gunnar Bjornstrand is the movie's great strength.

Jackson Booth-Millard This was one of many Swedish films I founded from director Ingmar Bergman (The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Persona, Cries and Whispers, Fanny and Alexander), from being listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, so I watched hoping I would agree with this opinion. Basically pastor Tomas Ericsson (Gunnar Björnstrand) performs his usual Sunday service to a tiny congregation in the small rural church, but the cold winter weather has given him a cold, and unknown to others he is also suffering a crisis of lack of faith in God, following the death of his wife two years ago. After the mass Tomas is approached by Karin Persson (Gunnel Lindblom), and her fisherman husband Jonas Persson (Max Von Sydow) who is suffering from anxiety due to China having a bomb and he is contemplating suicide, but rather than consoling him Tomas cannot help but talk about his own troubles, and later Jonas kills himself with a rifle shot in the head. School teacher Märta Lundberg (Ingrid Thulin) is in love with Tomas and offers her desperate feelings as a consolation for the loss of his faith, but the widowed priest resists and rejects her with bitter and tough words, and in the end Tomas finds someone to talk to about his lack of faith, and what he believes with regard to the true suffering of Jesus Christ in the Passion of Christ. Also starring Allan Edwall as Algot Frövik and Kolbjörn Knudsen as Knut Aronsson. I can agree with the three stars out of five that this film is given by critics, it is engaging to see the man struggling to remain faithful during the cold season, and the refusal of love from one who has true feelings is intriguing, but it is perhaps one of those films that only half watching will like or understand, it is certainly an interesting drama. Worth watching!

MarcoBastia The film portrays perfectly the anguish of the faithful dealing with "the silence of God," they seek only a sign to give their faith and yet are not heard. The pastor Eriksson is alone after the death of his wife and lives a profound existential crisis, he believed that God is manifested through love, but once the love dies, Does God die with him? This is the question that is placed by the pastor, Discovering himself more and more doubtful about its faith and the existence of God so he can not convince a faithful about the importance of life, the faithful shortly after will kill himself.Not only plagued by doubt but also by the presence of a woman who flirts and continually fills attentions, which they do gradually burst him, revealing her hatred and disgust for the woman.The shepherd always more doubtful about his faith asks help to God using the same words spoken by Jesus Christ, "God, why have you forsaken me." The protagonist continues his struggle, looking for a divine sign, but ultimately surrender to the silence of God and to fulfill its role as a priest, despite that the love for God and the love for the land is no longer present in him.

ObservationBlogger Marta Lundberg, an atheist local school teacher sits and laments at the church pew because she is deeply in love with a pastor whose faith in God, himself and Marta is dwindling into an existential nothingness. At the point of her absolute utter despair she is confronted by Satan who takes on the appearance of the church organist. This is her Garden of Gethsemane.Welcome to Life on Earth.I found this film mesmerizing. From the very first scene, I was pulled into this melancholic, thought provoking tour de force of art-house cinema. It is deftly directed with such sublime sensibility and intimacy. The realism is extraordinary; few if any other movies I have seen are so authentically delivered. Like many of Bergman's movies, 'Winter Light' challenges us to reflect on our own lives, our very existence, essentially what it means 'to be'. Many reviews remark how it is steeped in connotations of religion, but I found its themes closer resembling aspects of 'Faith'. Not just faith in God, but faith in oneself, faith in one's partner, faith in what it means to be human. For me, it didn't require multiple viewings to fully appreciate this Tower of Movie. I got why Bergman said: "I think I have made just one picture that I really like, and that is Winter Light…Everything is exactly as I wanted to have it, in every second of this picture." – Ingmar Bergman from Ingmar Bergman Directs by John Simon 1972. Despite arriving at this movie without any prior knowledge whatsoever, except that it was Bergman, as the last scene faded to black an awe of respect made me laugh as I stood from the armchair of this Bergman ride from a theme park like no other. To my mind, this isn't a movie, its best described as a vision, a vision so pure and finessed to screen that its almost like walking into someone else's dream, but by the last act you realize it could be more akin to your subconscious, because really this vision has been imparted to you. The plot, multilayered symbolism and striking metaphors to the events of 'The Passion of Christ' and human suffering (Christians and atheists alike) could be discussed at infinite length, but I'll leave that to the 'movielogians' rather than influence the mind set of someone who may intend on watching this movie. Bring all your baggage to this movie and see how it effects you without preconceived notions of the story or plot. If you revel in films that are challenging, thought-provoking and stimulating you might also find yourself living in this movie. See this film.