Criterion Collection (Firm)

Filmed over several weeks, "Bergman Island" is an impressively intimate look at the waning hours of one of cinema's true legends. Granted unprecedented access to the man himself, Marie Nyreröd captures stories from Bergman that cover his entire life to that point. Bergman is remarkably candid, whether he's discussing his abusive father or his last directorial effort, Saraband. Even those not particularly interested in Bergman's cinema will find something...

In medieval Sweden a knight returns from war only to find a ravaged homeland. He meets up with a group of travelling players and eventually confronts the embodiment of death with whom he engages in a game of chess for his life. The knight and Death play as the cultural turmoil envelopes the people around them as they try, in different ways, to deal with the upheaval the plague has caused.