A Definition of “the Faith” in Winter Light
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Wolran Kim
March 2013
Winter in the black-and-white film is mirrored quite fascinatingly. The piled-up white snow seems as severe loneliness with placidity. Winter Light deals with the anguish of a clergyman, Tomas, who doubts the existence of God. The heavy, monotonous atmosphere in the whole film shows the unpretentious mentality of Tomas intact. His job is giving confidence in faith to believers or atheists; nevertheless, he still wants to ask why God is consistently silent. He lost his faith at the same time when he lost his beloved wife; “The only person I showed my god to was my wife.”
In a conversation with Jonas, the picture of his God in reality was “an echo-god,” “a spider God,” and “a monster.” He also said, “If there is no God, would it really make any difference? Life would become understandable,” while he reflects on the Spanish Civil War in Lisbon. Tomas confesses that the loneliness and fear of humans are more painful in front of God’s silence. On the other hand, Tomas is awfully blameless and humanly honest compared with religious people nowadays who are passionate without pure faith because he never uses Märta’s blind love for comfort or gives hope of hypocrisy to Jonas who wanders about faith.
This film untwists and twists conflicts and philosophical topics from inside human nature like a spider web through a simple story. The depth of black-and white film is suited to illuminate a mental state compared to noisy and splendid Hollywood movies. So then, this movie looks like a theatrical performance on stage. The scene of worship looks as a scene of a funeral. The pastor who leads worship, the accompanist who plays the organ, the warden who counts the offerings, everyone looks fatigued.
People go inside the church to see God; however, there is no God other than the same figures of people in the church. Tomas’ words that God never speaks because God does not exist are shocking to me. His entire life living as God’s messenger was just play-acting! Therefore, he could not help anyone, neither Märta who loves him nor Jonas who lost his faith and hope completely because Pastor Tomas was pained enough with his own problems about his loss of faith and enmity toward God’s silence.
In the scene of the dialogue between Pastor Tomas and Jonas, the appearance of Jesus on the cross right by the close-up face of Tomas, seems to represent the answer of God’s silence. Tomas’ empty church appears as bleak winter fields and the dead body of Jonas is a substance of faith, which was killed by Tomas. I felt as if Pastor Tomas murdered Jonas indirectly. The pregnant wife of Jonas, Karin, reveals the selfishness of human beings, because she was left alone in despair with the children. Why do humans create other human children despite hopelessness of suicide? All the characters in Bergman’s film might seem as wheedling children to believers because God gave all free lives to humans just as gifts and he is there for humans at all times.
The long distance of camera shots during Jonas’s death avert viewers’ eyes from the fear of death. On the contrary, Märta’s six-minute-long close-up shot is intended for complete empathy from the audience. Therefore, Jonas’ death became a small and inconsequential incident of everyday occurrence, and Märta’s psychological distress was highlighted and expanded. Since man’s death is in the hands of God, human suffering must be dealt by human’s self. In Märta’s letter to Tomas, she accurately depicts to him; “To me your faith seems obscure and neurotic.” In addition, her candid expression on faith evokes sympathy; “God and Jesus existed only as vague notions. ~~ Life is messy enough without taking the supernatural into account.” Strangely, Märta’s faith toward a human seems much more firm than Tomas’s piety towards his God, because she said, “I have only one wish to be allowed to live for someone else.”
In the last scene, Tomas sees some kind of light as if it is spiritual enlightenment while listening to Algot. Algot says that people should focus their faith on God’s silence during the crucifying of Jesus and the disciples who betrayed Jesus, rather than emphasizing the physical suffering of the Passion. God even held his tongue in front of his own son. In Algot’s view, there is a message to people who are skeptical about faith. Therefore, Tomas’s last service is quite different than the worship at the beginning of the film. In his first worship, he was isolated from the church members on the railing platform although he was saying,
“Let us now pray TOGETHER, even as our Lord Jesus hath taught us.” Now, his voice has much more strength and has gotten heavier in the last worship even though he was providing service for a single person. His last sermon sounds similar to a monologue about the interpretation of faith pretending to preach in a full church. Faith is just believing, not understanding. Faith is the answer to God’s silence rather than waiting for God’s answer. This film recalls Michel Foucault’s words that the hardest thing to believers is believing in God.
=============================================
Wolran Kim
March 2013
Winter in the black-and-white film is mirrored quite fascinatingly. The piled-up white snow seems as severe loneliness with placidity. Winter Light deals with the anguish of a clergyman, Tomas, who doubts the existence of God. The heavy, monotonous atmosphere in the whole film shows the unpretentious mentality of Tomas intact. His job is giving confidence in faith to believers or atheists; nevertheless, he still wants to ask why God is consistently silent. He lost his faith at the same time when he lost his beloved wife; “The only person I showed my god to was my wife.”
In a conversation with Jonas, the picture of his God in reality was “an echo-god,” “a spider God,” and “a monster.” He also said, “If there is no God, would it really make any difference? Life would become understandable,” while he reflects on the Spanish Civil War in Lisbon. Tomas confesses that the loneliness and fear of humans are more painful in front of God’s silence. On the other hand, Tomas is awfully blameless and humanly honest compared with religious people nowadays who are passionate without pure faith because he never uses Märta’s blind love for comfort or gives hope of hypocrisy to Jonas who wanders about faith.
This film untwists and twists conflicts and philosophical topics from inside human nature like a spider web through a simple story. The depth of black-and white film is suited to illuminate a mental state compared to noisy and splendid Hollywood movies. So then, this movie looks like a theatrical performance on stage. The scene of worship looks as a scene of a funeral. The pastor who leads worship, the accompanist who plays the organ, the warden who counts the offerings, everyone looks fatigued.
People go inside the church to see God; however, there is no God other than the same figures of people in the church. Tomas’ words that God never speaks because God does not exist are shocking to me. His entire life living as God’s messenger was just play-acting! Therefore, he could not help anyone, neither Märta who loves him nor Jonas who lost his faith and hope completely because Pastor Tomas was pained enough with his own problems about his loss of faith and enmity toward God’s silence.
In the scene of the dialogue between Pastor Tomas and Jonas, the appearance of Jesus on the cross right by the close-up face of Tomas, seems to represent the answer of God’s silence. Tomas’ empty church appears as bleak winter fields and the dead body of Jonas is a substance of faith, which was killed by Tomas. I felt as if Pastor Tomas murdered Jonas indirectly. The pregnant wife of Jonas, Karin, reveals the selfishness of human beings, because she was left alone in despair with the children. Why do humans create other human children despite hopelessness of suicide? All the characters in Bergman’s film might seem as wheedling children to believers because God gave all free lives to humans just as gifts and he is there for humans at all times.
The long distance of camera shots during Jonas’s death avert viewers’ eyes from the fear of death. On the contrary, Märta’s six-minute-long close-up shot is intended for complete empathy from the audience. Therefore, Jonas’ death became a small and inconsequential incident of everyday occurrence, and Märta’s psychological distress was highlighted and expanded. Since man’s death is in the hands of God, human suffering must be dealt by human’s self. In Märta’s letter to Tomas, she accurately depicts to him; “To me your faith seems obscure and neurotic.” In addition, her candid expression on faith evokes sympathy; “God and Jesus existed only as vague notions. ~~ Life is messy enough without taking the supernatural into account.” Strangely, Märta’s faith toward a human seems much more firm than Tomas’s piety towards his God, because she said, “I have only one wish to be allowed to live for someone else.”
In the last scene, Tomas sees some kind of light as if it is spiritual enlightenment while listening to Algot. Algot says that people should focus their faith on God’s silence during the crucifying of Jesus and the disciples who betrayed Jesus, rather than emphasizing the physical suffering of the Passion. God even held his tongue in front of his own son. In Algot’s view, there is a message to people who are skeptical about faith. Therefore, Tomas’s last service is quite different than the worship at the beginning of the film. In his first worship, he was isolated from the church members on the railing platform although he was saying,
“Let us now pray TOGETHER, even as our Lord Jesus hath taught us.” Now, his voice has much more strength and has gotten heavier in the last worship even though he was providing service for a single person. His last sermon sounds similar to a monologue about the interpretation of faith pretending to preach in a full church. Faith is just believing, not understanding. Faith is the answer to God’s silence rather than waiting for God’s answer. This film recalls Michel Foucault’s words that the hardest thing to believers is believing in God.