La terra del desiderio

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.

Two men on a ship are fighting for the affections of a woman. In 1962 Roman Polanski had a breakthrough with this in the film "Knife in the water". In 1947 however Bergman was still learning and the quality of "A ship bound for India" in no way justified a breakthrough.

In "A ship bound for India" the two men are father and son, and by Bergman this signals an autobiographical element, the more so when the father is very authoritarian. The son resists the authority of his father and the woman "only" is a catalyst of this resistance. "Only" is however put a little too mildly because the woman gives the boy the needed self confidence to change his silent resistance into explicit resistance.

The film has some weak points. In the first place the father is too much the bad guy and the son too mucht the good guy. Secondly the father is authoritarian in a fysical way, in other words he is violent. I think the film would have been more interesting had the father been authoritarian in a spiritual way and the fight of the son was not to become as strong as his father but to develop his own personality.

In one scene Bergman shows his potential as the great director he would become. The diving scene, working magnificently with shadwos, is pure expressionism.

The baggage the youthful Ingmar Bergman was carrying about his parent's generation finds vivid expression in this, his third feature, from his early "neo-realist" phase, which combines an extremely melodramatic plot about a hunch-backed young man (Birger Malmsten) struggling with the baleful influence of his macho, bullying father (Holger Löwenadler), set against an arresting backdrop of documentary-style footage of life among working folk. The noisy musical score by Erland von Koch marks it out as a very early Bergman.

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")

Alexander's a terrible parent, his attitude completely aberrant, treats Alice a slave, gallivants misbehaves, believes Sally can make him content (he's never come to terms with his son's affliction).

Alice's dream has been shattered, the cottage and pension in tatters, her husbands' new hopes, leave her on the ropes, their love, devotion, all but scattered (treated like a second class person and casually discarded).

Sally reached for the hand proffered, escaping surrounds she'd been coffered, didn't reckon on Johannes, or her saviour's menace, has to live with the choice going forward (who wouldn't latch onto something that can pull them from the depths).

Johannes back from seven years, at sea to wash away all the tears, finds Sally alone, isolated and prone, sets his sail to remember past fears (afflicted from birth, both physically and psychologically).

Exploring past events between a son and his toxic father, the events leading up to the son's departure and the love he left behind under challenging circumstances. Sincere and great performances in a truly engaging tale.