"Sjöberg obviously respects and uses thetraditions of the stage, but Himlaspelet is pure film, with its roots in thesilent Swedish film and in German fantasy. It is no longer a religious tract, buta mixture of fantasy, legend and parable, done with an overriding dignity andgood taste." (William K. Everson). In eighteenth-century Dalecarlia, a girlunjustly accused of witchcraft is burned at the stake. Her fiancé (RuneLindström) takes the Road to Heaven to demand justice, and falls in withprophets and kings and, in a beautifully imaginative episode, with Joseph andMary. When he meets Satan, he begins to forget his lofty mission and he dies arich but lonely man to whom God nevertheless restores his idealistic spirit afterdeath. The film subtly identifies with the landscape and folklore of its rurallocale, and owes much to the performance by Rune Lindström, who co-authoredthe script based on his own play.