#38 down

Right back into #39.

I noticed something at the end of #38 that I wanted to point out though.  In the audio commentary Peter Cowie references that there's a "Last Supper" feeling for the scene where Lisa, Plogg, Jons, Block, MG and Karin are eating breakfast before Death takes them away.  He also points out that Bergman achieves that vibe while avoiding the traditional, Da Vinci inspired setup for that occasion.  My point is that to set them up like that wouldn't have worked because the "Jesus" figure in T7S isn't Block, but instead is represented by the child Michael, and so wasn't present at the breakfast scene.

Now I've been reading this movie as a bittersweet tale, with some characters finishing in despair and some escaping Death, but this viewing of the breakfast scene really puts emphasis on the optimistic outlook.  The Last Supper of course is a harbringer of the end of Jesus's mortal life, but in Bergman's vision Jesus doesn't die.  Does this mean that he doesn't expiate the sins of the main characters?  Does it mean that salvation is still forthcoming?  Or, because Cowie later explains that Bergman was an Atheist, does is mean that there IS no salvation because there is no afterlife?  I'll have to think on it a bit more, but it was definitely a new way to watch the scene.