The Mill and the Cross

Pieter Bruegel's "The Way to Calvary"

Last night I went out to see a film called "The Mill and the Cross", by Polish Filmmaker Lech Majewski. I thought that the imagery of the film was incredibly well made and something that artists would be particularly interested in. The whole thing was lit in the same manner in which a painter would light and paint his subjects.

In the first half of the film the daily lives of peasants, millers, and townsfolk are reenacted; their actions and costume coming straight out of Brueghel's painting, which was set in Flanders in 1564. In some scenes the real life forest background is actually replaced with the painting itself. This happens almost seamlessly.

The themes of Christ's suffering and of religious persecution in Flanders are examined. Periodically scenes of tranquility are punctuated with physical acts of violence and the audience is treated to a wide array of punishment and execution. Throughout all of this the iconic mill is present; either heard, felt, or seen in some way. The miller looks down on mankind like a stern, disapproving god and the mill continues to grind man's fate (according to Brueghel in one of the scenes where he is describing his painting).

I went to see this at E Street Cinema in Washington, D.C.