A Man There Was

Terje Vigen / A Man There Was (1917) : Brief Review -

Victor Sjöström Gives Birth to an undying formula of Forgiveness over Vengeance in the most expensive Swedish film of its time. "Ingeborg Holm" (1913) by Victor Sjöström had a huge impact on the Swedish audience as well as foreign audiences who were underestimating Swedish films at the time. With Terje Vigen, he made the most expensive Swedish film of the time and apparently kicked off the golden era for Swedish cinema. I have witnessed this compassionate formula of "forgiveness" in many movies made in the last 10 decades, including a film made in 2022. Recently, there was a Bollywood film called "Jalsa", which used the same formula, while the most acclaimed works based on the same formula in the past few years had to be "Rubaru Roshni" (2019) and "Kaanekkaane" (2021). Knowing Terje Vigen has set the formula is nothing less than a blessing. I mean, I can't name all those hundreds of films that used the same formula in this brief write-up, but come on, how can they all be termed great for copying it from an old, unknown film? So let's give credit where it's due. The film is about Terje, a sailor who suffers the loss of his wife and kid during the Napoleonic Wars of 1809. He is captured by a brutal British officer, which changes his life forever and leaves him all alone in the world. Will he get his revenge? That's where the kick is. I won't spoil it, but I guess you already know it. Victor Sjöström's trendsetter drama is full of life, tragedy, drama, and conflicts, and all are relatable. You can find yourself in Terje, especially when you assume it's anything before the 21st century. Apart from pioneering dramatic conflicts, Terje Vigen also set benchmarks for big-scale movie making at that time. Overall, another great film in Master Victor Sjöström's filmography.

RATING - 7.5/10*

By - #samthebestest.

If this movie had been made in 1923, I'd have been more blasé, but for 1916 it's nothing short of miraculous.

The open-air filming is smooth and well-executed. The emotional rawness is hit hard but never gets overheated. The acting is intense but does not stray into laughable "stagger-and-clutch." Dutiful fidelity to Ibsen's poem may cramp the subtitles, but never interferes with masterful story-telling in the film itself.

There is one sequence, in which a launch from a British warship destroys a fisherman's rowboat and then attempts to hunt down the fisherman while he's swimming for his life underwater, that is an absolute classic that will live in your memory.

This film is short, but very powerful, and worth going the extra mile to see.

Beautiful cinematography along the rugged Norwegian coastline and a powerful message of forgiveness are the highlights of this film from Victor Sjöström, which was a landmark in its day. It's Ibsen's story of a man who tries to get past a British blockade to feed his hungry wife and baby, but is caught and imprisoned for five years. By the time he gets home, they've perished. I went in unfamiliar with the story and thought it might be a Tarantino-like tale 1917-style, especially when the man comes across the British captain who showed him no mercy and has a chance for vengeance. It's such a touching thing that he doesn't do so given the depths to which mankind was sinking in WWI at the time.

Channeling Christ really gives an extra meaning to the backlit crosses we see in the cemetery in one of the film's beautiful shots. Another that stands out in my mind is the old man sitting and staring out at the sunset over the water, and there is real depth of feeling throughout the film. The only reason for the slightly lower review score was the overall pace, which I found slow for such a simple story, with the exception of the scenes of tension. Sjöström immerses us so well into this world we can practically taste the sea salt and I love him for it, I just wish there had been a little meat on the bones of this story. On another night my score may have been higher, and this is worth seeing though.

I've been wanting to see more Sjostrom, hoping for something on the level of PHANTOM CARRIAGE. Although this one has nothing but rave reviews on IMDb, it didn't grab me as much. A melodrama about a man driven mad by tragic misfortune and cruelty, but it's hard to feel too sorry for him because he really didn't have a very good plan. Maybe I'm being harsh, but despite a strong performance by Sjostrom I just wasn't emotionally invested enough to care that much about his troubles. However, technically it's very impressive for its time and features some stunning nautical cinematography and a haunting final image that serves as a strong counterpoint to the redemptive theme. You can also see Sjostrom's man vs. nature motif emerging, further developed in THE OUTLAW AND HIS WIFE and of course THE WIND.

This is a faithful adaptation of the eponymous poem by Henrik Ibsen, and all inter-titles are quotations of Ibsen's original text. The film follows an innovative non chronological structure. In the brief opening scene, old grey-haired Terje Vigen is contemplating a stormy sea. It is followed by a long flash back showing his past life first with his wife and daughter, his trip to Denmark, his capture by the English, his life as prisoner in England, and finally his return home. There is even a flashback in the flashback when, while in jail, Terje Vigen remembers his wife and daughter. The last part starts with the same scene as the opening one, followed by the rescue of the British yacht. It is interrupted by a brief flashback when Terje Vigen realises the Captain of the yacht is the Englishman who had taken him prisoner. The most remarkable aspect of the film is the outdoor on-location filming on the coast and on small boats, which gives great authenticity to the action, in particular the very realistic chase and sinking of the dinghy in the middle of reefs. Editing is brisk, cross-cutting between views of the two boats and then between the English boat and Terje Vigen trying to escape by swimming underwater.

See more and a link to the full film at: a-cinema-history.blogspot.com/2013/12