Skepp till India land

All the Bergman complexes are already here: the dysfunctional family, the tyrannical father, the struggling sex disturbances, the human decadence, the claustrophobia, the inferiority complex, it's all here bundled up in a rotten ship trying to salvage a wreck, with a few able seamen but a captain that constantly ruins everything, it's all sordid and dreadful, even the dialog is constantly strained, the emotional outbursts keep on rolling, but the whole thing is wonderfully filmed with Bergman's famous and unique sense of imagery. A failure of a captain has a hunchback for a son, whom he keeps as a slave more or less, he wants to become a seaman, but the father keeps him hard at work with dirty things, and so there is a constant conflict brewing up. The captain wants to go away and leave everything, wife and son and crew and ship, to escape with a variety girl, but she falls in love with the son, while the captain is going blind. What a mess! It's the son that ultimately goes away, but comes back after seven years to find the wrecks of his previous life and the girl, whom he imagines has been waiting for him for seven years, as he has been dreaming of her for seven years, but that romantic construction is not quite convincing. The assets of the film are the splendid photography and imagery, and a wonderful score by Erland von Koch.

I was shocked when Bergman called his first film, Crisis, "lousy through and through". But, this time I might agree. Melodramatic might be an appropriate adjective for this film. The directing and the screenplay work in opposite directions. If the directing is perhaps accentuating Bergman's fear concerning his relationship with his father, it is forgetting the romance into making it a lame melodrama.

Again, A Ship to India, Bergman's third film has some interesting ideas and proves his technical abilities. However, this time, due to the essence of Martin Söderhjelm, his formalist ideas (camera angles, lighting, dissolve) works against him.

Was only introduced to Ingmar Bergman seven years ago and very quickly he landed on my list of best and most influential directors. He did have occasional disappointments here and there (a vast majority of directors did/do), such as 'All Those Women' and 'The Serpent's Egg'. But he was great once he found his style, and quite a lot of his films are masterpieces such as 'The Seventh Seal', 'Fanny and Alexander', 'Wild Strawberries', 'Cries and Whispers', 'Persona' and 'The Virgin Spring'.

His third film 'A Ship to India' as director, following on from 'Crisis' and 'It Rains on Our Love', is a long way from being one of the master's best. Then again this was very early on in his career and when he was still finding his style properly. For such early Bergman however, 'A Ship to India' is a very interesting film and one can see signs of his distinctive style and themes already, it is also a not bad at all one. Actually thought it was quite well done on the whole.

As always for a Bergman film, there is some very nice photography (though this aspect has certainly been done better and more inspired in later Bergman films). Likewise with good use of very atmospheric locations. Bergman's direction became more refined and instinctive later on, then again it is early days, but one can definitely see a lot of promise here. The script s thoughtful, having the tension and emotion necessary.

The story is unmistakable Bergman in terms of themes and the tensions between the characters are believable. Emotionally it didn't feel cold. The acting is very strong from a chillingly cruel Holger Lowenadler and Birger Malmsten portrays a character worth relating to.

For all those good things, the uneven character writing also works against 'A Ship to India'. It is agreed that motivations are hard to buy, due to them being introduced suddenly without much warning and contradicting anything sad before. There were things crying out for explanation left hanging in the air.

On the most part the photography is fine but parts are a bit on the drab side. Some of the intensity wavers later on, with a few dreary moments.

Summarising, interesting and well done but Bergman is not at his best here. 7/10

The main characters in this story, told in flashback, are all struggling with life, and in this film Bergman give us a painful father/son relationship that probably reflects the difficulties he had with his own dad. Here the son has grown up a disappointment to his father because of a small hump on his back and a milder personality, while the middle-aged father, a bully, feels as though he's missed out on things in life and wants to run off to the south Pacific with a showgirl. His mother has suffered from abuse over the years, and her husband now wanting to leave seems especially unjust since she worked hard with him in the early days of their business salvaging old boats, which she recounts in one of the film's best scenes. The showgirl herself knows a thing about pathos too; she's been poor and turned to prostitution in the past, giving her a jaded outlook and the belief that love never lasts, so she just wants to be kept comfortable by a man.

With all of the difficult emotions in play the setup was interesting to me, and there are a few beautiful shots along the rocky Swedish coastline as well. Where the film falters is in being overly melodramatic, e.g. the father being made to be going blind on top of everything else, and the son falling for the showgirl. There is a fantastic moment of tension when the son goes diving in a suit that requires his father to manually pump air down to him, but its emotional power and some of the other angst in the film is eroded because it tries to fit so many other things in. Restraint and focus were needed so that the characters and their relationships could have more depth. Bergman was still finding his way here, but nonetheless it's interesting to watch him at this stage of his career.

After seven years at sea, Johannes Blom (Birger Malmsten) returns to his hometown seeking out Sally (Gertrud Fridh), who is depressed and isolated in her room. Johannes recalls his life seven years ago, when he lived with his despotic and brutal father Captain Alexander Blom (Holger Löwenadler) and his abused mother Alice Blom (Anna Lindahl) in an old vessel working in salvage services. The hunchback Johannes has been rejected by his father since he was born and has survived and grown full of anger. When Alexander discovers that he will be blind in less than one year, he brings his mistress Sally to live with him on board of his ship expecting to leave Alice and travel abroad with Sally. But Johannes and Sally fall in love with each other and the hatred of Alexander for Johannes leads to the family to a tragic end.

"Skepp Till India Land" is the third film of master Ingmar Bergman with the story of a triangle of love among an abusive father, his abused son and his mistress. Captain Alexander Blom is one of the most despicable characters I have ever seen with his tyrannical and indifferent behavior regarding his wife and his own son. Alice Blom is an abused wife that has the only motivation of having a cottage and a pension of Alexander's employers in an after-war period (this is a 1947 film). Johannes is man without self-esteem or self-respect, abused since he was a child that reacts to his father's brutality when he is infatuated on Sally, an anguished and disillusioned showgirl that has no hopes or expectations with men. The result is a bitter and anguished love story. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Um Barco para a Índia" ("A Boat to India")