After a bit of a break from watching films,I managed to squeeze in enough time to revisit this classic film by Ingmar Bergman and looking back,this was one the first foreign films that I had seen and also whetted my appetite for stimulating Cinema.

Many Cinephiles like Bergman and his work but a few find his films too slow for their liking.Bergman's films are interspersed with symbolism and if one looks close enough,the experience is rewarding.

This was the film which made Max Von Sydow famous as an actor of rare calibre and depth.He is a disillusioned Knight who returns from the Crusades in the 14th Century with his Squire(Gunnar Bjornstrand) in tow and encounters an apocalyptic scenario inspired from the book of Genesis.He statrts playing Chess with Death and throughout the film,there is a distinct feel of "resignation to fate" in the air and the inevitability of Death as Sydow searches valiantly,spiritedly and sometimes even cheerfully,to find the meaning of life.There are too many memorable scenes to recount but the ending is particularly stunning.

This is an amazingly skillful film filled with allegories and symbolism and Bergman emerged as one of the great Modern day Directors with this classic.