The Seventh Seal (5 Stars)

The disillusioned knight Antonius Block, played by Max Von Sydow, is asking a lot of God. This privilege wasn't even given to Moses. When Moses asked to see God's face, he was told that no man can look upon God's face and live, so he was only allowed to see God from behind.

I can relate to Antonius. He was young and idealistic when he went to fight in the Crusades, probably still a teenager. He was newly married, but he was convinced that it was God's will to leave his wife behind and go to liberate Jerusalem. It should have been a short fight, but he was gone for 10 years. He witnessed a lot of pain and suffering, and he personally was responsible for a lot of it. The doubts came. First he asked himself if all the killing was God's will. Then he asked himself if God even existed.

Antonius returns to Sweden, accompanied by his faithful squire Jöns. The squire has no doubts. He never believed in God anyway. Life is easy for atheists. "Eat, drink and be merry". Jöns takes his pleasures wherever he finds them. He sees through the church's lies before Antonius. Jöns is the first to recognise the priest who told Antonius to join the Crusades. He's now a scavenger who steals the jewellery from dead bodies.

And there are a lot of dead bodies. Sweden has been hit by the Plague. Wherever Antonius and Jöns go, they find bodies lying unburied. The Plague was bad, very bad, but the panic caused by the Plague was worse. The church claims that it's God's punishment, and there are processions of men and women whipping themselves to win God's favour for the next life. Women considered to be witches are being burnt at the stake. Antonius staggers through the suffering, searching for answers, but not the church's answers. He wants to meet God Himself and talk to Him.

Antonius doesn't meet God, but he meets Death, in the form of a man dressed in black. Not even Death will give him answers about God's purpose; all he says is that it's Antonius' time to die. Antonius challenges Death to a game of chess. If he wins he will be allowed to live. They play a few moves every day, while Antonius goes about his business, seeking for the mysteries of life. Death doesn't give him a chance to escape. Wherever Antonius goes, Death follows him, disguised as one of the people around him.

I wouldn't play chess with Death. I'm sure he's a brilliant player, more than a match for the current world champion. (How many of you can name him without googling?) I might offer to play Backgammon with Death, because the roll of the dice might give me a small chance of victory. But what's the point? Longevity was never one of my goals. I used to want to die before I was 30; then before I was 40; then before I was 50. Now my life is dragging on aimlessly. I'm not foolish enough to want to kill myself, but when Death comes for me I'll laugh in his face.

"Take me now, if you must. Or let's play one last game of Backgammon".

Max Von Sydow
10 April 1929 – 8 March 2020

"The Seventh Seal" was made in 1957. Now, 63 years later, Death has come for Max Von Sydow. Was the film just a job, or did it inspire him to search for the meaning of life? Were his remaining 63 years long enough? I fear that no man ever lives enough to find the answers he seeks.

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