Unforgiven

So far, Unforgiven has proven to be the most exciting film we've watched in the class!  The cowboys, guns, and prostitutes remind me of the Old West I know from my childhood(okay, maybe not the prostitutes).  However, the prostitutes are very important to this film, and in the opening scene we are introduced to the underlying misogyny with them.  There's something very parallel about the men's opinion of animals and woman in the film.  For example, once Little Bill realizes that Skinny only thinks of the women as property he no longer wants to whip the men, but he just wants a payment of horses.  "Property, for property" is what he calls it I think.  After that scene when all the women are in the bedroom, Alice says that "they're whores not horses".  She made that same distinction to Little Bill right before that when he explains that the men who cut up Delilah weren't "bad men," and she said something like "no, they're not wicked like us whores?"  All of these aspects of the film point out that women, especially the whores, are constantly objectified by men.  
Once we are introduced to Bill Munny he repeatedly talks about how his wife had reformed him from the evil ways of his "old life."  When Bill tries to mount the white horse for the first time and keeps falling he says that he used to mistreat animals often and that's why this horse and hogs treat him badly(he kept falling in the mud, chasing after the hogs).  The animals and women are both disrespected by these "wicked" men of the West like Bill, until he was changed by his wife(obviously a woman herself).  
Schofield Kid  is like a younger version of Bill, or at least a wanna-be.  We know that Kid is a liar immediately, since he exaggerates how Delilah was cut up and refers to her as "a lady."  It's also implied that he gave himself the nickname "Schofield Kid" and that he hasn't killed many people at all.  However, he's able to get Bill back into his old ways for the sake of earning money.

Closing up the Seventh Seal

Since I never made my final thoughts on The Seventh Seal I'll do so now.  
The film's events are further reflected by the chess game when Block begins to be successful for the first time after the milk and strawberries scene.  That scene was the first time that Block forgets about his struggle with Death and just enjoys life, so it seems that this is the only time anyone can truly "get ahead of Death"(even though it can only ever be temporary).
Also, in the final scene we see the silhouette of the 6 characters who died, being lead up a hill.
The lighting in the scene seems to suggest that the characters are about to embrace some new light or revelation by following death.  This amazing shot fully embodies the mysterious distance that the process of dying holds for us.

The Seventh Seal

Already having an affinity for all things Swedish, I of course love this movie so far.  The balance of dark comedy and seriousness is done very tastefully, and proves that comedy can portray deeper meanings.  
I also think the fact that Death isn't this entirely horrifying character(although he is one super ugly dude), tells us that Bergman thinks death isn't a completely scary thing and we should be able to laugh at it sometimes.  Nonetheless, he's still Demonic and we know that'd we stay away from him if we saw him walking down the street. 
In the first beach scene we see our protagonist[?] "baptize" himself and then drop to his knees, praying.  I think the fact that after doing this he walks right up to death and challenges him to a game is symbolic for the thinking of religious folk.  He thinks that because he has God on his side, he will be able to escape death or "make a deal with him" as he tries to do.  But, we see that death ignores his attempts at negotiations and just goes on playing the game.  Also, the scene in the Church reveals that the protagonist will not be able to cheat death for long, and death will always be listening in, one step ahead.


As for those merry gypsy people, Mary and Joseph immediately reminded me of...well, Mary and Joseph(of the Bible).  However, Joseph seems very intent on finding meaning in life and seeing symbols, whether they are present or not.  Mary, on the other hand, is more skeptical and seems to be the rational one.  That other big dude they live with might be the existentialist of this film, but I'm not sure yet(I think I remember him having one line that hinted at that, but I can't remember it).


Overall, this promises to be a very interesting film, artistically and thematically!

Runaway Train

Although Runaway Train has a ton of messages throughout the film, one of the greatest one's I noticed was that we live in an "every man for himself" world.  This is obviously one of the key existential beliefs, that we are all alone throughout life and we will die alone.  That idea is exemplified the most in the scene where Buck is trying to climb onto the top of the train.  We see this wide shot of him, a small man, on this huge, fast train(that could symbolize life?) and he's holding on for all he's worth, yet he keeps slipping.  As much as he keeps loosing his grip on the train, nobody else is there to help him but himself.  The isolation here is portrayed so well, since he is out in the cold, and then on top of that Manny won't let him in without a fight when he wants to give up and go back inside.  

Another place where this existential idea of isolation is shown is in Manny's line that was something like: "One must count on one's self, nobody else...There's no miracles in life!" 

That line is possibly one of the most important to the film because it sums up not only the point that we are all lonely, self-dependent creatures, but other existential ideas also.  It has the idea of no higher power or meaning to life, and the acceptance of a somewhat hopeless reality.