sweden, 1970, swedishA well meaning attempt to gently agitate for change. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, it didn’t do much to change the fundamental realities of this place that Bergman so loved.
INGMAR BERGMAN
Fårö Document
Well then. The last few years have not been kind to my movie watching habit, and so far 2025 looks like the worst one yet. Not since the heady days of 2020 have I really made any significant progress here. But, I persist nonetheless, because this is a hobby not a job. Still, I am once again on “it’s been a long time since I actually watched this” corner. Such is life, as they say.
At any rate, I’m not sure I’d have that much to say here anyway. This was definitely a documentary made by Ingmar Bergman, that much I feel capable to definitively state. There were some interesting stylistic choices made, like filming all the nature in color but the interviews in black and white. It’s a slim film, barely an hour long, but I do feel like it gave me some sense of what Fårö must have been like.
It’s also just so Bergman to call something a “swimming paradise” and then immediately show it during winter, complete with trash everywhere and locked up buildings. Just perfectly on brand, no notes. But, other than that, this feels like a precursor to its successor. A film I saw many years ago and remember as being a lot more developed than this one.
This was apparently Bergman’s attempt to change things for Fårö in some meaningful way. In that attempt he failed pretty completely. As far as I can tell the island continues to sort of fade away over time. No bridge has been built, services continue to move to the larger Gotland. It’s bleak. But then again, doesn’t that make it absolutely perfect as the home of Bergman?