Slideshow
RAVEN’S END
Sweden, 1963
Written and Directed by Bo Widerberg
Starring Thommy Berggren, Keve Hjelm
Approx. 101 min.
Widerberg’s semi-autobiographical portrait of a young writer, Anders, transcending his impoverished upbringing in the tenements of Malmö (the director’s hometown), with an alcoholic father and worn-out mother. The drama is set in the 1930s, against the political backdrop of strife between socialists and fascists. The film’s bracing realism provided a jolt to Swedish cinema, moving it away from the metaphysical concerns of Ingmar Bergman.
Reviews
“Anders is one of the most believable writers in any play or film I can think of, full of energy and his rage to work... Widerberg’s film is a most beautiful work of realism, celebrating the everyday, re-creating a period without hindsight.”
– Pauline Kael
“[RAVEN’S END] is Widerberg’s masterpiece, an impeccable film.”
– Ingmar Bergman
“Widerberg’s best film... The development of the relationship between the three people is done as perceptively, skillfully, and deeply as anything in this line apart from Eric Rohmer’s recent work.”
– Roger Ebert