Day 64/68 - The Mill and the Cross (2011)

What a visual feast director Lech Majewski's The Mill and the Cross is. 

Based totally on the story behind Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s Road to Calvary (pictured above) the film draws the viewer into 1564 Flanders. All the images appear as if painted by Bruegel. His backgrounds and the mill dominate the landscapes. It is a time period when the mercenaries from Spain control the land through intimidation and fear. 

Rutger Hauer plays Bruegel and he becomes our narrator into the world he has painted.

Early on the film follows a young farmer and his wife begin their day and take a calf to market. The farmer is run down by the mercenaries in red, beaten, trust onto a wheel on top of a rough hewn tree/cross. Left for the birds of prey to devour, he becomes a foreshadowing of the cross which comes later. We see how bleak and hard the mill (his symbol for Life) grinds the people down. The Spanish Inquisition affects many. Later we see a young woman thrown into an open pit and buried alive.

The actual opening is stunning when the people assemble to populate his painting, as if dressing for a medieval passion play. Main actors are being dressed in clothing from Bruegel; others remain frozen in position already; others wait for their parts to be focused. At another point, Bruegel shows his patron the perspective of the painting he works on and how to “read” it. Later the Duke (Michael York) says he wishes one could step back and find perspective of what is happening in the land. Bruegel has his Miller (God) stop the Mill—and everything stops--so he can explain what he is drawing. These moments gives the film a formalism, a didactic presentational style. If you as a viewer have the need for a strong story and plot, this is not the film for you. But if you have ever listened to a great art lecture and found yourself moved by what you are seeing, you will be rewarded. I found this crucifix, this passion play, brought me to tears.

One of Bruegel’s ideas, found in such works as Landscape with the Fall ofIcarus is that during major events, all kinds of insignicant side-stories draw the viewer's attention away from the main events. So it is true here. 

Life and the mill continue to grind on, and if we are lucky we can dance and find some enjoyment in our lives.

The Mill and the Cross (2011) **** (on Netflix Streaming)