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Simply Perfect

good back-story, and good acting

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Set in Gothenberg, 'Hamnstad' was Bergman's fifth feature film, his first with cameraman Gunnar Fischer, and concludes his early "neo-realist" phase - there's still plenty of documentary footage of blue collar working life and its all rather more sordid than his later films, including a harrowing section involving an abortion - but much more sparing use is made of Erland von Koch's than hitherto in anticipation of the more laid-back approach he was soon to adopt.

This is really a film about an unhappy woman,the people around her and her journey to find happiness. The other characters are props but props devised with imagination and played quite well. She has been sent to reformatory time and again and her attempts to find sexual love frustrated at every attempt. We feel for her and sense that she is a good human being who has simply not seen a break. In flashback we see the reason for her unhappiness - an abusive, unsympathetic mother, people willing to exploit her...There is little of anything we have come to associate with the older Bergman. The camera movements are in Hollywood-style and the editing invisible. The girl's desolation is mainly private, even from the viewer, but the film is one about her and not the other characters. This is one of Bergman's central points throughout his career. I'm glad I saw this but now it's time to move on.Curtis Stotlar

"Hamnstad" is one of the rare Swedish films focusing on family life.Its uniqueness is due to the fact that it has an eclectic mix of serious themes. These themes include bitter, harsh realities like abortion,broken home, correctional house etc. Bergman has deftly portrayed the dreary lives of its two lonely protagonists : Gosta and Berit. For this purpose, he has chosen a small provincial port town where nothing much happens. This film is a good record of how gloomy the life in Sweden (Europe) during 1940s was. Bergman has also shown us how all emotional problems are solved if lovers decide to remain true to each other. This is precisely the case of Gosta and Berit.Gosta has always led a hard life. He is a moody soul too. As a sailor, he has been out on sea for many years. For this reason he is unable to believe that some girl can enter his life in order to love him.There are doubts in Berit's mind too. As a loner, she tries hard to leave her past behind. As a young lass, Berit witnessed numerous fights involving her father and mother. This is one of the reasons why there is enormous distance between Berit and her mother. It is during one of these turbulent emotional phases that Berit meets Gosta. Even though Gosta is a tough nut to crack, his love for Berit is real. On one occasion, Gosta fights some young rascals to prove his intensity of emotional attachment for Berit. Gosta even proves that he is the ideal man for Berit as he solemnly ignores Berit's revelation that in the past, she was sent to a correction house. He urges Berit to make an earnest effort to leave her past behind. Berit has no hesitation at all in following this humble piece of advice. It is precisely in this manner that both Berit and Gosta embark on a successful journey to lead a happy, joyful life as companions for life. All of Bergman's film have a message to offer to audiences. Through "Hamnstad", he wishes to tell us all that being alone is a terrible feeling.

While Gosta, a seaman, arrives in Gothenburg, a young girl, Berit, makes a suicide attempt in the city harbour. After saving her, a rather promising relationship seems to begin but much work needs to be done from both of them in order to be together. In 1948, Ingmar Bergman seems already familiar with the themes that he will never stop examining throughout his career. He observes and studies human behavior in everyday circumstances, in an effort to get a glimpse of its roots. Berit is depressed, but her situation has a long story, starting from her childhood. Growing up with a mother that never cared for anything and anyone but herself and a father that had a problem hiding his temper, she ended up in a reform school and the implications are therefore predictable. Gosta has just finished working in the ships and he finds himself working in the docks of Gothenburg, despite his ambition for something bigger. They are both in the need of a clean start in their lives, carrying their burdens from the past on the left and their dreams for the future on the right. When they first meet, they can't possibly imagine how similar they are. In fact, they seem incapable of realizing anything because of the wall they have built around them in order to protect themselves. But she desperately needs to free herself from her mother (who impersonates all of her past) and he desperately needs to find someone to relief him from his loneliness. So, they will fight through all the difficulties for these goals. Eventually, she will learn to have some faith in other people, he will learn to forgive and they will both learn to face the past. This film also works on a political level as the story takes place among the dock workers struggling everyday just for the essentials. Bergman himself admits the influence that the Italian Neo-Realists had on him in his first films and Port of Call is a characteristic example. It is mostly shot on location and the work in cinematography is really admirable, the black and white photography and the camera movement is stunning and Bergman proves how talented he is when it comes to framing. The leading actors give notable performances, especially Nine-Christine Jonsson. Overall, Port of Call is an interesting film, a typical example of the first period in Bergman's filmography that will reach its climax with "Summer with Monika". The story may sound clichéd and naïve at times, but it is its honesty that engages its viewers, as well as the masterful shots of the great Swedish director.