The Seventh Seal - Can You Cheat Death?

Released in 1957, The Seventh Seal (original title Det Sjunde Inseglet ), a Swedish film is worth a watch. Directed by Ingmar Bergman, a brilliant director, the film was based on a play written by himself for the acting students.

The film starts with two men returning to Sweden after fighting in the crusades. The  knight Antonius Block (Max von Sydow) and his squire Jöns (Gunnar Björnstrand) seem to be good and brave people. Antonius Block is a clever chess player and is very intelligent. One day while they are resting, Antonius as usual starts to play chess alone. It is there that he encounters Death. Death(Bengt Ekerot) is dressed in black cowl and has a monk like appearance. Antonius is unafraid of dying but he still has some unanswered questions about life and wants to seek their answers before he can die. He somehow thinks that if he can challenge Death into playing chess with him, he can delay his death. Death agrees and thus the great game starts.

Also in the film are many characters who somehow get connected to Antonius Block and Jöns as they continue their journey ahead. Death keeps appearing in middle to play its chance and then goes off.

Nomadic actors , Jof (Nils Poppe) and his wife Mia (Bibi Andersson), with their baby son, Mikael, and their actor-manager, Skat(Erik Strandmark), who perform from village to village join Antonius on his way. Skat during a particular show charms a black smith wife and manages to run away with her. The blacksmith joins the Antonius and actors only to find his wife returning to him and Skat tricking him and running away.

The fate of these people now is in the hands of Antonius now, as the visits of Death are increasing and at the same time Antonius knows he cannot defeat it. The movie continues further with the journey of these group of people as they go to Antonius' castle to be safe from the plague which is spreading and people are dying like insects. Antonius knows the plague sooner or later will take their life by coming in the form of Death.

In spite of Death cheating Antonius to give out his strategy , Antonius manages to stay in the game and later cheats once. Things like Antonius quests for finding the truth of life, the actor Jof's strange visions, a woman who is to be burnt as she is accused of being a witch, the Dance of Death at the end, etc enrich the film's story.

A completely awesome movie where language forms no barrier, is certainly a movie which I would recommend as a must watch for you all mortals who are reading this.