the seventh seal and bazan

I've been a consumer of media all winter break so far. I love it, but what am I doing, really?

I looked up the Criterion Collection and requested a few from the library. So far I have watched Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (terrifying and wonderful) and parts of The Seventh Seal (hey marta, wanna come out to a jazz bar? yes. click.) I have really enjoyed both, but not in a Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights type of way. They're so interesting.

Here are some quotes from The Seventh Seal:

Is it so terribly inconceivable to comprehend God with one's senses? Why does he hide in a cloud of half-promises and unseen miracles? How can we believe in the faithful when we lack faith? What will happen to us who want to believe, but can not? What about those who neither want to nor can believe? Why can't I kill God in me? Why does He live on in me in a humiliating way - despite my wanting to evict Him from my heart? Why is He, despite all, a mocking reality I can't be rid of?

Faith is a torment. It is like loving someone who is out there in the darkness but never appears, no matter how loudly you call.

Both quotes are from Antonius Block, who is a knight just back from the Crusades in the middle ages. At the beginning of the movie he is approached by Death. Block challenges Death to a chess game, thereby delaying his death. In the meantime Block and his squire travel around and meet people. I didn't get to the end.

The movie was made in 1956 by Ingmar Bergman and speaks to the idea of the times that life is full of absurd events and is overall meaningless. The way it interacts with religion is fascinating. I dig the quotes.

Especially the first quote reminds me of David Bazan (former singer of Pedro the Lion). A friend of mine saw him in a house show last month and has been haunted by his humble approach to doubting his faith. Here you can see it in his song "Stitches," which has haunted me as well.

I need no other memory
Of the bits of me I left
When all this lethal drinking
Is to hopefully forget about you

I might as well admit it
Like I even have a choice
The crew have killed the captain
But they still can hear his voice
A shadow on the water
A whisper in the wind
On long walks with my daughter
Who is lately full of questions about you