Ingmar Bergman

I really enjoyed learning about Ingmar Bergman last week with Professor Cohen after finishing the Virgin Spring. I honestly had no idea who he really was, so it helped put into perspective just how influential his work was. I can see the how the Virgin Spring would be considered very controversial considering the rape scene, and the conflicting religious implications. After watching that I definitely want to see the Seventh Seal and see just how far he goes in terms of questioning God's existence. It's crazy to think how his personal battles would be reflected in his work, as he himself had a near death experience after which he loses his belief in God. That was relatively early in his career, so the conflict may have been evident through his later works. Bergman's career also was very intriguing because he went from a national celebrity to being exiled from his own country by the government on a botched tax evasion investigation. I would imagine the citizens of Sweden we outraged that their government would oust their own "hometown hero".