Bergman Island

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Dave S Shot a few years before his death in 2007, Bergman Island is a remarkable documentary about the great Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. Through the lens of time, Bergman looks back at his life with a critical eye. A recluse in his home on Sweden’s Faro Island, he comes to terms with his strained relationship with his parents, his abandoning of his children, his art, and, late in the film, the demons that still possess him. The film is a touching and powerful meditation on life and death and the regrets that come with sacrifice and artistic obsession. Fans of Bergman will love it, justifiably so, while those unfamiliar with his oeuvre might want to consider watching a couple of his classics in order to fully appreciate what the documentary has to offer. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 10/21/24 Full Review andres s Wow, this documentary is very meditative. It's interesting to see what Bergman does on a daily basis and how he approaches everyday. Very calm and tranquil island that he lives on. It's beautiful with all the lush greenery and animals like sheep and goats. His choice of style for his home on the island is really cozy and welcoming. I love his entertainment space with that interesting looking chair, the blonde oak wood walls, and all the cd's and vinyl. I think it's awesome how he came up with the concept of his fireplace and how there's room to lie down right in front of it. I love that Bergman was willing to let us into his life the way he did in this documentary. I don't think any other director as big as him has ever done this. I have great respect for him. You get to see why he is the way he is when he starts talking about his upbringing and his parents and the reason why his movie are the way they are. Seeing how sensitive of a person Ingmar is, is really something that takes me back. That story he tells of being locked in the morgue as a child and going up to the woman's corpse and seeing her eyes were looking at him, I could see the images in my head. I like how the documentary also shows how personal experiences in Bergman's life inspired certain movies and ideas for scenes in his movies. I also like how the documentary didn't neglect to touch on his more darker side of the things he's done with the women in his life and his children in particular, or more so his neglect towards them. Now I understand why Bergman is pretty much obsessed with death, as it shows in his films. He thinks about it all the time. I guess the experience he had in the morgue more than scarred him for life. He's a very meditative and introspective thinker of a person. This is probably one of the most intimate, personal, meditative and introspective documentaries I've ever watched. By the end of the documentary I felt like I knew Bergman, almost like a family member, as if he was a stranger that I knew all along or in a past life. This was a terrific documentary. It fully captured my attention and brought into light a somewhat obscure director whom now I have more respect for and will watch all his movies. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member http://filmreviewsnsuch.blogspot.com/2013/01/bergman-island.html Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Admittedly I skimmed through this to the bit about Bergman's directoral career. Still if your subject is IB, it's almost impossible to screw up completely. (And like many Swedes, Bergman lived in an immaculate, minimal modern wooden house.) Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Audience Member Note: I watched the ~80 minute version, rather than the full 3 documentaries. Bergman Island mixes Bergman history, personal outlook, and self-criticism into one package. It's Bergman on Bergman in a largely effective reporter-on-subject study. His comments about himself are uncomfortably revealing at times, the honesty painted the picture of a flawed human. What the film is painfully missing is outside interviews. While Bergman revealing himself is definitely interesting, it lacks the substance of stories and opinions from the people he worked and interacted with. Granted, Bergman was old when he did these interviews (he would die 4 years later), so maybe everyone it would have made sense to interview had preceded him? But I doubt it. Even though the voices heard here are restricted to Bergman and the question prompts by Marie Nyerod, the 80-odd minutes pass fairly quickly. For those interested in Bergman, this is a good--if flawed--portrait. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member A deeply personal look into the genius of Ingmar Bergman who is a very secluded and reserved visionary auteur who lives alone on Faro Island. The film depicts several key elements and inspiration for Bergman's films and themes as well as his personal life and is truly a stunning and personal insight into the mind and even the fears of the man beneath the genius. I really enjoyed this documentary, as Bergman is one of the most gifted filmmakers ever in my opinion and is a superior story teller and one of the most fascinating Director's who ever lived. He will be sorely missed, yet his films remain and will continue to inspire for generations to come! Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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