Bergman 26: Fårö Document (1970)

This strikes me as something of a small masterpiece. Working in 35mm and 16mm, and both colour and black and white, Bergman and Nykvist construct a remarkably evocative but direct and unfussy portrait of the island of Fårö and its inhabitants, human as well as - in particular - sheep. All the images are striking, but never self-regarding, and Bergman's deceptively probing interview style (almost entirely off-camera) suggests he could have had a whole sideline in documentary, like some kind of much less mannered Herzog. Bergman has certain things he clearly wants to convey about the island and the situation of its people (as comes out explicitly in the political proclamations at the end of the film), but this does not obstruct the film; rather, it seems to have helped him focus his portraits of the islanders. And these portraits are, without exception, remarkable. I suspect that careful study of this film might be very illuminating about the ways that Bergman worked with his actors in his fiction films.