Special Subject – Halloween with Bergman – THE SILENCE (1963) & CRIES AND WHISPERS (1972)

Halloween is always a good time to ponder the horror of incarnation, familial feeling, and our alienation from God. While there are strict horror movies that tackle these subjects, Ingmar Bergman definitely puts his own twist on them, and so we bring you Halloween with Bergman. In The Silence (1963), a woman dies in a hotel room in a foreign country where the people speak no known language, abandoned by her family. In Cries and Whispers (1972), a woman dies in her family home, surrounded by her family. Guess what? It doesn't go any better. Can agonizing suffering bestow on certain individuals the ability to translate the language of God for a battered and bewildered humanity? Or when you die do you just go from one void to a bigger one? We ask the big questions--but also, Cries and Whispers is easily the most horrifying movie Elise has ever seen (with the possible exception of Fire Walk With Me), even before the part with the zombie vampire of love. Time Codes: 0h 01m 00s:                    THE SILENCE (1963) [dir. Ingmar Bergman] 0h 26m 31s:                    CRIES AND WHISPERS (1972) [dir. Ingmar Bergman]                                                  +++ * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s * Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive) * Read Elise's latest film piece on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating. * Check out Dave's new Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist's 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project!  Follow us on Twitter at @therebuggy Write to us at [email protected]