“Flying birds find something, sitting birds only find death. I have found both women and churches.” – Beggar

Number of Times Seen – 1 (12 May 2026)

Brief Synopsis – The lives of a farmer and his wife in 14th Century Sweden are interrupted when two shepherds seek food and lodging from them.

My Take on it – This is a film that I had never even heard of before seeing it on a list of Oscar winning films. I’m usually not the biggest fan of Bergman films, but I found this one quite captivating and interesting the whole way through. The tale is a simple one, yet the find a powerful way to show the way things play out. The fact that this story has a very minimal number of characters, it helps show the kind of life these people lives 600 years ago while also showing how something like this can happen due to the way that their house is far removed and secluded from a larger society/village.  Th characters are all archetypes, but that doesn’t matter since they each have a set task to fulfill in their role which helping the story play out. This film was nominated for two Oscars – Best Foreign Film and Best Costume and was a very good choice for winning Best Foreign film. The story is told in a very simplistic way and despite some scenes coming across very brutal, it never is graphic and leaves so much to the imagination which enhances things even more.

Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – This was allegedly a true story in Europe in medieval times. It later was translated into a European folktale, then it was turned into this Oscar-winning film by Ingmar Bergman. Then it was turned into slasher movie The Last House on the Left (1972), which is the most famous and successful version of this tale. It subsequently was remade as Chaos (2005), and then it was remade again The Last House on the Left (2009) with Tony Goldwyn. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (9/10)

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