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the audience applauded

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The sound of a church bell fills the air with as much resonance as the crippling doubt of questioning one's faith. The way the sound reverberates in the air is reminiscent of the debilitating blow of a thought that one can't release from their mind. When that thought is doubting the faith you vowed to protect and project, it becomes nearly crippling. This conundrum is exactly what Ingmar Bergman presents in his 1963 film Winter Light. Starring Gunnar Björnstrand as Tomas Ericsson, the small town priest in the throes of a crisis of faith, and Ingrid Thulin as a school teacher willing to substitute her love in exchange for God's in Tomas' life. In a deeply moving and powerful film, Winter Light is just one of the prime examples in Bergman's oeuvre that cement him as the filmmaking giant he is.On a cold day, in the heart of winter, Pastor Thomas Ericsson finds himself preaching to a nearly empty church. One of the members of the congregation, sure to always be in attendance, is schoolteacher Märta Lundberg. Märta is in love with Tomas, but the death of his wife two years prior has left him unable to love another person and has left him in a bitter state towards God, as well. Also among the attendees are Karin Persson (Gunnel Lindblom) and Jonas Persson (Max von Sydow). Karin seeks out Tomas to counsel her husband who has recently been consumed by an existential crisis after learning that China has atomic bomb capabilities. Desperate to ease her husband's anxiety, Karin begs Tomas to renew Jonas' faith in God and talk him away from the suicide he has been contemplating. Unfortunately for all involved, the only lens Tomas can see through is his own doubt and fractured relationship with religion. Jonas, sensing this lack of faith, leaves Tomas with more anxiety than he came to him with. The weight of doubt brings Tomas, who is expected to be the leader of the church, to a point where he is discussing the future of his theological pursuits with those charged with maintaining the church.Winter Light was a film I wasn't ready for. Ingmar Bergman has over a dozen classics tied to his name, but this wasn't one that I had personally heard of in that group. Obviously, it sticks out as a part of Bergman's religious trilogy, the films in which he deals most with man's relationship to God. The barren dismal landscape of the winter outdoors is echoed inside the church as the bodies lining the pews are topped with desperate faces, bored and lacking interest in the church service. Bergman's blocking is fantastic, often photographing his distraught priest standing in doorways, much as he's standing at a precipice regarding faith in his own life. For believers, God is a welcome sight, the actualization of an idea that fills one with hope and purpose, no matter how. There is much symbolism in Christianity regarding hands. The hands of man are to do the work of Christ, as often alluded to, especially in regards to Joseph (the husband of Mary, Mother of Jesus) and his profession as a carpenter. Likewise, in Winter Light, hands are the focus of Bergman's camera throughout the entire film. It is Märta's hands that are attacked by a rash that disgusts Tomas so much, he avoids her. Tomas's hands shake and falter as he goes about this day, much like his faith has been shaken so much that he is hopeful no one will attend church services at his dwindling congregation so he doesn't have to perform mass. Every time Tomas's hands are interacting with God, he is unable to perform his task. Thomas's hands visibly shake when he is attempting to counsel Jonas. His hands also shake so badly he is unable to put the letter Märta sent to him back in the envelope after reading its heartbreaking content. The intentional focus on hands is carried on as we see the hands of Märta as she dries the tears of regret falling from Tomas's eyes. Bringing such focused religious symbolism to a film that questions the limits of faith shows not only the incredible directorial prowess of Ingmar Bergman but also reveals a tenderness of his toward a subject he questions. Winter Light is a methodically beautiful look at one of the biggest questions in life by perhaps the perfect person to use his camera to search for the answers.

The 24th feature film directed by Swedish film legend Ingmar Bergman, "Winter Light" stars some of Bergman's favourite actors, including Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand, Max von Sydow and Allan Edwall. With amazing, masterful cinematography by Sven Nykvist, the movie was shot partly in Dalarna, Sweden. Depicting the loss of faith of small town priest, "Winter Light" is, as most of Bergman's films, full of impressively well-written dialogue and great acting.

This bleak, sparse film from Ingmar Bergman focuses on a disillusioned, increasingly skeptic Lutheran priest called Thomas (Gunnar Bjorstrand, who's excellent) administering the gospel in a Swedish village to a very small congregation. He's unable to accept the love offered him by the plain school teacher Marta (Ingrid Thulin, also very good), and incapable to offer the conviction of his faith to save from suicide a fisherman called Jonas (Max von Sydow) troubled by the prospect of a nuclear war(incidentally, this was filmed just before the Cuban missile crisis).This must have been a very personal film by Bergman (the son of a stern Lutheran priest, the director lost his religious faith as a young man). There are a lot of biblical allusions and religious discussions (we have a doubting Thomas, a fisherman called Jonas). One can nitpick here and there (one could wonder why the younger Marta is so attracted to the middle aged, aloof Thomas, or whether Jonas motivation to kill himself is credible), but if you are willing to suspend your disbelief, the minimalist direction and the great acting made for a powerful movie. Reportedly this was Ingmar Bergman choice as the favorite film he made.

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.