Review of The Mill and the Cross (2011) by Rainer K — 28 Jun 2012

It's a kind of film that has been done numerous times, you may even call it a subgenre. A film about an artist in the process of creating a masterpiece.

The Mill and the Cross is no Shakespeare in Love though. It's one of the smartest and most beautiful shot films of 2011 and therefore a hidden gem.

It all starts with an opening sequence of a multi-layered landscape with various scenes going on in the foreground as well as in the background. Just like a moving photograph in the Harry Potter novels this is a "living" version of Pieter Bruegel's The Way to Calvary (which is on display in my home country Austria in the Museum of Art History in Vienna).

What follows are ninety minutes of exploring about a dozen of scenes that happen in the picture as well as an examination of how and why Bruegel painted it all that way. Dutch actor Rutger Hauer stands in as the artist himself and although he's only featured in a handful of scenes he has most of the film's dialogue (it's mostly just silence...).

It's an art film and as artsy as it gets and yet so fascinating and captivating that you can't keep your eyes from it (well, you just have to stay awake - that might be a little challenge for some of you).

I can't even say how this is all accomplished - what's green screen, what's CGI and what's part of the copy director Lech Majewski painted on his own as a preparation for the film (!!). However, the end product is amazing.

The painting is, as Bruegel states in the film, constructed like a spider builds its web, to lure the viewer deeper and deeper into its secrets. Lech Majewski did the same thing with his film, creating some sort of visual spider web that never lets you go.

Afterwards, I'm pretty pissed that I missed The Mill and the Cross in theaters. How regarding a big screen viewing would have been with this magnificent imagery and the perfect soundtrack.