first of all the story is not so simple as many earlier reviewers tend to emphasize and it is actually a very complex story and unlike bergman other movies that are more bend towards character study. in skammen we have two main characters but as we are thrown from the start in the middle of a war we have no idea who is fighting and why and everything is open for any resolution. this creates a huge tension and makes every event meaningful. as the story unfolds we are introduced to numerous characters and that are turned into symbols of humanity and both its dark and luminous sides. we have the example of the innocent bystanders who try to get by during an absurd war and the cynical doctor who makes fun of his patients and provides the only bitter humor of the whole movie and the perverse opportunists who try to make the best of an atrocious event (bjornstrand character) and the innocent dead children and the nameless figures almost turned into animals from the boat etc. all of them are somehow seen through the eyes of jan (von sydow) and eva (ulmann) and their characters are more restrained then in other begrman films (en passion) and this is exactly because what is important here is the story and the way exterior events have the capacity to radically change human nature. bergman made this film two years after persona where the main conclusion expressed by the only word uttered by liv ulmann character is ingenting and nothing. that it represent the meaning of art and the meaning of life and the latter being nothing more than a play that includes all plays. but what about war. and especially the annihilating ones of the xxth century. in persona and the only real emotion suffered by ulmann character is when she sees a victim of the vietnam war turned into a human torch. in skammen that idea is extended to a complex analysis of the dehumanizing nature of war. in a nameless region of a nameless country (we only assume it sweeden) two factions speaking the same language fight an absurd war. jan and eva are two dreamers caught in the middle but their dreams are woven in a sort of counterpoint. jan is at first an idealist and unable to react properly to the world and a subject to his wife will. towards the end he turns into a radically different personality and capable of unmotivated murder and strong willed and pitiless (watch carefully the suicidal on the boat. the simplicity of the act is harrowing). on the other hand eva progressively looses touch with reality and at the end she is completely suffused in her own unfulfilled dream. from a technical point of view the whole movie delivers its message in a very effective way. bergman places the viewer alongside the character and putting the camera in the car with the actors and or in an extreme close up behind the actor. nykvist manages an extraordinary control of the camera and there are some masterful hand held effects and very good in making everything seem real. the shots when the characters are captured by the army look remarkably documentary like. the screenplay is minimalist but the story is quite complex for that matter. actually the whole movie is paradoxical and it has an intensity in the subject that is in a sharp contrast to the coldness and lack of emotional involvement with which it is directed and filmed. nothing is melodramatic here and there is no compassion and no hope and no apparent redemption. but and as in liv ulmann dream at the end it is all so beautiful one cannot help but being amazed at it. it was not so awful since it was so beautiful. 
first of all the story is not so simple as many earlier reviewers tend to emphasize and it is actually a very complex story and unlike bergman other movies that are more bend towards character study. in skammen we have two main characters but as we are thrown from the start in the middle of a war we have no idea who is fighting and why and everything is open for any resolution. this creates a huge tension and makes every event meaningful. as the story unfolds we are introduced to numerous characters and that are turned into symbols of humanity and both its dark and luminous sides. we have the example of the innocent bystanders who try to get by during an absurd war and the cynical doctor who makes fun of his patients and provides the only bitter humor of the whole movie and the perverse opportunists who try to make the best of an atrocious event (bjornstrand character) and the innocent dead children and the nameless figures almost turned into animals from the boat etc. all of them are somehow seen through the eyes of jan (von sydow) and eva (ulmann) and their characters are more restrained then in other begrman films (en passion) and this is exactly because what is important here is the story and the way exterior events have the capacity to radically change human nature. bergman made this film two years after persona where the main conclusion expressed by the only word uttered by liv ulmann character is ingenting and nothing. that it represent the meaning of art and the meaning of life and the latter being nothing more than a play that includes all plays. but what about war. and especially the annihilating ones of the xxth century. in persona and the only real emotion suffered by ulmann character is when she sees a victim of the vietnam war turned into a human torch. in skammen that idea is extended to a complex analysis of the dehumanizing nature of war. in a nameless region of a nameless country (we only assume it sweeden) two factions speaking the same language fight an absurd war. jan and eva are two dreamers caught in the middle but their dreams are woven in a sort of counterpoint. jan is at first an idealist and unable to react properly to the world and a subject to his wife will. towards the end he turns into a radically different personality and capable of unmotivated murder and strong willed and pitiless (watch carefully the suicidal on the boat. the simplicity of the act is harrowing). on the other hand eva progressively looses touch with reality and at the end she is completely suffused in her own unfulfilled dream. from a technical point of view the whole movie delivers its message in a very effective way. bergman places the viewer alongside the character and putting the camera in the car with the actors and or in an extreme close up behind the actor. nykvist manages an extraordinary control of the camera and there are some masterful hand held effects and very good in making everything seem real. the shots when the characters are captured by the army look remarkably documentary like. the screenplay is minimalist but the story is quite complex for that matter. actually the whole movie is paradoxical and it has an intensity in the subject that is in a sharp contrast to the coldness and lack of emotional involvement with which it is directed and filmed. nothing is melodramatic here and there is no compassion and no hope and no apparent redemption. but and as in liv ulmann dream at the end it is all so beautiful one cannot help but being amazed at it. it was not so awful since it was so beautiful. ---------------------------------Answer Question Below----------------------------------

Judge the movie review above, you need to make a function call:
    If you feel the movie review is positive
        print "This is a semantically positive review."
    Otherwise, if you feel the movie review is negative
        print "This is a semantically negative review."
