The Magic Flute (Sweden, 1975) December 29, 2008

Ingmar Bergman's film version of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera is a warm glowing movie that is a rare instance of two artists who, across the barriers of time, have created a work of incomparable beauty. The fairy tale plot has the handsome Prince Tamino set off in search of the beautiful Princess Pamina at the behest of her mother, the Queen of the Night. His companion is Papageno, a bird catcher and boyish buffoon, who supplies the low comedy. Pamina is being held captive by her father, the magician Sarastro. However, nothing is as it seems, and Tamino finds himself on a far different quest than he originally envisioned.