SHAME Movie Review

Married concert musicians Jan (Max von Sydow) and Eva (Liv Ullmann) flee a violent and terrible civil war by seeking refuge on a small island near their unnamed country's coast. Inevitably, they discover that even on their island the war's impact is felt, and before long their lives become a struggle not only for mere survival, but to maintain a measure of dignity and civilized behavior in an increasingly chaotic, anarchic universe. Along with Persona and Through a Class Darkly, Shame is one of the great Bergman films of the 1960s, as well as one of the most affecting and terrifying films ever made about the delicate, easily shattered surface of the civilization we take for granted. Though the film was released during the height of the Vietnam War, it's rarely included when anti-war films of the period are cited; perhaps it didn't seem specific enough at the time, or it may simply be too universally unnerving. Whatever the reason, Shame remains, twenty years later, a brilliant, unsettling, great work of art. National Society of Film Critics'Awards for Best Picture, Director, and Actress.

NEXT STOP … Grand Illusion, Forbidden Games, Fires on the Plain

1968 (R) 103m/C SW Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Sigge Furst, Birgitta Valberg, Hans Alfredson, Ingvar Kjellson; D: Ingmar Bergman; W: Ingmar Bergman; C: Sven Nykvist. National Society of Film Critics Awards ‘68: Best Actress (Ullmann), Best Director (Bergman), Best Film. VHS MGM, BTV