Hets (Raserei)

Jan-Erik (Alf Kjellin), a high school graduate from an authoritarian boys' school who suffers under the reprisals of his sadistic Latin teacher, nicknamed Caligula by the students, falls in love with Bertha (Mai Zetterling). What begins as a love affair between two young people who want to escape the adult world comes to a violent end. Director Alf Sjöberg uses the expressive possibilities of images in an expressionistic black-and-white production: he shows the school building as a place of fear and abuse of power, and the noir atmosphere can also be read as a compelling commentary on the Nazi regime of oppression that ruled over half of Europe at the time. Ingmar Bergman wrote the screenplay for this coming-of-age novel based on memories from his school days, and as assistant director he even had the opportunity to orchestrate the shooting of an outdoor scene – his first assignment as a director. (A.P.)

Courtesy Swedish Film Institute