The Phantom CarriageWe reap what we sow. The Phantom Carriage is a silent film about an abusive alcoholic named David Holm (Victor Sjöström, who also writes and directs), struck dead during a fight in a graveyard at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve. He is then visited by the spirit of an old acquaintance, Georges (Tore Svennberg), who had perished at midnight on New Year's Eve previously, and has since been consigned to be the driver of Death's carriage, ferrying souls to the beyond. Georges informs David that he must now take the reins (literally) for himself, doomed to the same fate, but not before revisiting all of his sins from his life, brought on by the evil of excess drink.
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Even though it was made over a century ago, The Phantom Carriage employs some clever visual effects to simulate ghostly apparitions. The double exposure of Georges going about his grim business has him walking through closed doors to heave the lifeless soul of a suicide victim into the back of the carriage, and even descend into the depths of the sea to claim one who was drowned. Today, we can sometimes take such effects for granted, where computers easily simulate these magical illusions. But to see such effects from an era that few today were even alive during is quite historic. Much effort has been made to preserve this film, and it shows. From the earliest scene in which a young Salvation Army nurse named Edit (Astrid Holm) is on her deathbed due to tuberculosis, it is clear just how sharp the image on this restored version of the film really is, courtesy of the Swedish Film Institute. It is just as if antique photographs from the advent of the medium had come to life; the sepia toning in the scene emphasizes this effect. Edit's final wish is to see David Holm, who--we will learn--can only be the kind of person that someone with the purest and gentlest of hearts would even bother to save. Following this request, Edit's colleague in the Salvation Army, Maria (Lisa Lundholm), goes searching for David, only to find his bereft wife, Anna (Hilda Borgström), staring off into the corner of a shabby tavern. Anna has been long suffering under David's intoxicated rages and mean-spirited treatment of her and their children. When David is finally found in the graveyard with a couple of other ne'er-do-wells, a bottle in each of their hands and dressed in rags, he refuses the dying Edit's wish solely because it inconveniences him. (What a rat!) When his revels get out of hand and a fight breaks out, one of his companions smashes a bottle over his head, killing David instantly. And when Georges shows up, the driver of Death's carriage takes a cue from Jacob Marley of "The Christmas Carol" and shows David how his life was wasted; and David is forced to relive his darkness like Scrooge before him.
Georges was the subject of David's story in the graveyard about Death's carriage. Ironic given that David himself dies at midnight in much the same way as Georges does in his "ghost story". The Phantom Carriage toys with the idea as to whether this visitation by Georges is real or if it is solely his own conscience chastising him, perhaps amplified by the drugs in his system. The former read of it is supported by things which David learns that he could only have discovered as an invisible spirit spying on his loved ones, seeing how his cruelty has affected them. But I think it is more interesting to consider that David has, despite appearances, always been lashing out due to his deep-seated shame. Georges led David astray with drink, along with David's brother (Einar Axelsson), who committed manslaughter while drunk. After David is released for (I suspect) disorderly conduct, the police offer David a deal: that he serve his brother's sentence on the basis that it was his irresponsibility that led to his brother getting drunk, and thus the killing. (This is a strange and unlikely example of due process.) However, as David remains a free man after what should be a sobering consequence, it's clear that he let his brother rot in prison instead of stepping in for him. Here enters the shame. David knows that his indiscretions led to the collapse of his happy family, and concludes that he is a bad person. Subsequently, he acts like a bad person at every turn...which only feeds his shame, which in turn brings him back to alcohol for temporary solace, and so on and so on. Truly, David is at his most abominable with people who are kind and generous to him, because they remind him of how ashamed he is to have become this person. He first meets Edit a year before her death, on New Year's Eve, when he comes to them in a coat covered in holes and filth. He has been searching for his family after they fled while he was in prison, and the furious David comes to the new Salvation Army mission demanding a place to stay. While he's asleep, Edit mends his coat, and--according to the logic of the film--somehow contracts her tuberculosis from the coat in the process. (Unlikely, but it is more convincing as a Christ-like metaphor to show how this "angel" has taken on David's suffering for his "sins" on his behalf.) David's response is to feign gratitude just before ripping the patches off and laughing in her face. Words like "evil" sprout to mind with behavior like this, but Edit is benevolent beyond belief, because she believes in salvation. In future encounters with David, he continues in his attempts to provoke her, but to no avail. Frustrated, he takes his anger out on Anna and the children, who he has finally tracked down. Despite locking David out, he forces his way in, and later flies into a violent rage with an axe when she locks him into the kitchen while she tries to escape with the kids. As David revisits these horrors, he is put through all of the stages of grief. He is dead, and he sees how his life has not only been squandered, but that his choices have destroyed the lives of others. The problem with shame is that it is fundamentally all about avoidance...a way to let yourself off of the hook for your responsibilities. After all, instead of feeling truly guilty--which carries with it the responsibility to correct your mistakes--you conclude that you yourself are just terrible; so you "can't help it", and continue being awful because nothing can be done about it. Wrong. As David's life flashes before his eyes, he sees how far he has fallen, and how he has let alcohol give him license to shirk being a good father and husband. This revelation on this cold winter's night in his small Swedish village is sobering on every possible level, and is a message for viewers to not let shame (or alcohol) rule their lives.
Recommended for: Fans of a cinematic achievement from the dawn of movies, with exceptional special effects and a strong, moral message about responsibility, in addition with a resounding warning about the "demon in the bottle". The Phantom Carriage was clearly inspired by "The Christmas Carol", and itself has gone on to inspire some of the greatest of films and filmmakers, such as Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal and Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.
Georges was the subject of David's story in the graveyard about Death's carriage. Ironic given that David himself dies at midnight in much the same way as Georges does in his "ghost story". The Phantom Carriage toys with the idea as to whether this visitation by Georges is real or if it is solely his own conscience chastising him, perhaps amplified by the drugs in his system. The former read of it is supported by things which David learns that he could only have discovered as an invisible spirit spying on his loved ones, seeing how his cruelty has affected them. But I think it is more interesting to consider that David has, despite appearances, always been lashing out due to his deep-seated shame. Georges led David astray with drink, along with David's brother (Einar Axelsson), who committed manslaughter while drunk. After David is released for (I suspect) disorderly conduct, the police offer David a deal: that he serve his brother's sentence on the basis that it was his irresponsibility that led to his brother getting drunk, and thus the killing. (This is a strange and unlikely example of due process.) However, as David remains a free man after what should be a sobering consequence, it's clear that he let his brother rot in prison instead of stepping in for him. Here enters the shame. David knows that his indiscretions led to the collapse of his happy family, and concludes that he is a bad person. Subsequently, he acts like a bad person at every turn...which only feeds his shame, which in turn brings him back to alcohol for temporary solace, and so on and so on. Truly, David is at his most abominable with people who are kind and generous to him, because they remind him of how ashamed he is to have become this person. He first meets Edit a year before her death, on New Year's Eve, when he comes to them in a coat covered in holes and filth. He has been searching for his family after they fled while he was in prison, and the furious David comes to the new Salvation Army mission demanding a place to stay. While he's asleep, Edit mends his coat, and--according to the logic of the film--somehow contracts her tuberculosis from the coat in the process. (Unlikely, but it is more convincing as a Christ-like metaphor to show how this "angel" has taken on David's suffering for his "sins" on his behalf.) David's response is to feign gratitude just before ripping the patches off and laughing in her face. Words like "evil" sprout to mind with behavior like this, but Edit is benevolent beyond belief, because she believes in salvation. In future encounters with David, he continues in his attempts to provoke her, but to no avail. Frustrated, he takes his anger out on Anna and the children, who he has finally tracked down. Despite locking David out, he forces his way in, and later flies into a violent rage with an axe when she locks him into the kitchen while she tries to escape with the kids. As David revisits these horrors, he is put through all of the stages of grief. He is dead, and he sees how his life has not only been squandered, but that his choices have destroyed the lives of others. The problem with shame is that it is fundamentally all about avoidance...a way to let yourself off of the hook for your responsibilities. After all, instead of feeling truly guilty--which carries with it the responsibility to correct your mistakes--you conclude that you yourself are just terrible; so you "can't help it", and continue being awful because nothing can be done about it. Wrong. As David's life flashes before his eyes, he sees how far he has fallen, and how he has let alcohol give him license to shirk being a good father and husband. This revelation on this cold winter's night in his small Swedish village is sobering on every possible level, and is a message for viewers to not let shame (or alcohol) rule their lives.
Recommended for: Fans of a cinematic achievement from the dawn of movies, with exceptional special effects and a strong, moral message about responsibility, in addition with a resounding warning about the "demon in the bottle". The Phantom Carriage was clearly inspired by "The Christmas Carol", and itself has gone on to inspire some of the greatest of films and filmmakers, such as Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal and Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.