'Picture yourself on a boat in a....'

I'm riffing on a Beatles tune of course. Picture yourself in a small boat drifting helplessly far from land after the captain has chosen to deep six himself. That is how Ingmar Bergman ends his film SKAMMEN. Maybe LSD could have helped Bergman purge his dark thoughts. Being caught in a civil war is clearly nightmarish but this nihilistic film suggests Bergman was likely in a self pitying stage and driven to prove he could best anyone in self flagellating bleakness. Has he forgotten the old adage of "heal thyself first...".?
A timid musician "mans up" in response to the carnage he cannot avoid and an apparently independent female partner willingly stays with him to the end. He has become toxic and murderous and yet she feels she has no other option. Maybe his sperm is now stronger after he has found his inner warrior and he'll impregnate her. No such luck. She will die in that boat never to have children. Nice touch Ingmar!

It may be too easy to come up with horrific scenarios and to engender hopelessness. It was just as easy in '68 as it is now. Perhaps the most shame should fall on Bergman for allowing his darkest thoughts to conquer his psyche.