The Mill and the Cross

I’m a bit euphoric about Pieter Bruegel the Elder now, after watching The Mill and the Cross. You can read a fair review here:

movies.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/mo … eview.html

I remember Tarkovsky’s homage to Bruegel’s snow pictures in that wonderfully evocative floating scene with Hari and Kelvin; but this Majewski film recreates the entire Flemish society that existed around the painting. Some of the scenes also evoke Bergman for me, particularly The Seventh Seal.

Now if you were to think that this movie represents simply a beautifully rendered homage to a great Renaissance artist, you would be right. However, it also brings to mind the timelessness of art and human nature. In fact, the scenes with the Spanish mercenaries cruelly and barbarically taking out ordinary people going about their daily business, just because they are considered heretics as a result of the Protestant Reformation, more than reminds me of police state scenes I’ve witnessed both here in America and abroad. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose…

I’ll admit it right up front - I fell asleep probably about two thirds through, and I didn’t finish it. But that’s not a criticism. This was a real pleasure to watch. I especially loved the quiet, which I experienced as a feeling of presence, rather than lack of noise. The quiet was tangible, thick. I found myself pondering what it could be like to live in a world without the combustion engine. Cutting trees with axes, waiting after dark for sleep to come. The cruelty was that much more accentuated, the goodness as well. The noise of those wild children!

Thanks for recommending this, Jonquil. I hadn’t heard of it before. And I have only a passing knowledge of Bruegel, so the introduction to him by the movie was appreciated.