The Mill and the Cross was the most beautiful and visually arresting film that I saw from 2011. It took me a long time to decide to say that considering that 2011 also gave us The Tree of Life.
It tells a story inspired by Pieter Bruegel the Eldar's 1564 painting The Way to Calvary and Michael Francis Gibson's book The Mill and the Cross.
The film is deliberately paced with little dialogue but anything else would be dishonest. The look of the film is truly fascinating and as technically advanced as the visual elements are they never take away from the story and, in fact, work very well with the simplicity of the film. Over half of the film is of peasants doing ordinary, everyday tasks.
There are a lot of different things going on here and I think I picked up on at least a couple of them. The main one that struck a chord with me was the Christ story, specifically his crucifixion. Pieter Bruegel, played by Rutger Hauer, knows the importance of events occurring around him and is very concerned with properly capturing the story of his time for future generations.
Pieter brings up how people often don't realize the importance of events transpiring around them while they are taking place. This is shown in the film during the crucifixion. A crowd has gathered to view the spectacle, but they are cruelly indifferent to the men being crucified. Kids are playing. Soldiers are gambling.
In one scene Pieter is discussing his painting with Nicolaes. "Although he (our Savior) has fallen at the center of my painting, I must hide Him from the eye."
"Why would you want to hide Him?" Nicolaes asks.
"Because He's the most important." Pieter replies.
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