The Mill and the Cross (2011)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Greg S

  
  This unusual art movie illustrates the story behind Pieter Bruegel's 1564 painting "The Way to Calvary," describing the stories of some of the characters who appear in the sprawling picture, examining Bruegel's strategy in composing the canvas, and sometimes using… More
  This unusual art movie illustrates the story behind Pieter Bruegel's 1564 painting "The Way to Calvary," describing the stories of some of the characters who appear in the sprawling picture, examining Bruegel's strategy in composing the canvas, and sometimes using the actual painting as a backdrop to the action. It's done with love and skill, but honestly, sometimes it's like watching paint dry; this would have been excellent at 1 hour. By playing Bruegel, Rutger Hauer became the first actor in history to portray a 16th Century Flemish painter and a hobo with a shotgun in the same year.

• Mark H

  
  What would it be like to step into a great work of art and experience the lives on the people within? That's the idea behind The Mill and the Cross a languid recreation of "The Way to Calvary, the 1564 masterpiece by Painter Pieter Bruegel. Throughout the film we often see… More
  What would it be like to step into a great work of art and experience the lives on the people within? That's the idea behind The Mill and the Cross a languid recreation of "The Way to Calvary, the 1564 masterpiece by Painter Pieter Bruegel. Throughout the film we often see the Flemish renaissance artist painting the scene. But most of the action takes place inside the composition as we observe the community within. It's an interesting concept, beautifully presented, but the sluggish pace is just too lethargic to enjoy. The notion of transforming a painting into a moving picture is an ambitious idea. Unfortunately there simply isn't enough drama to justify the movie. There's scarcely any dialogue. What little there is, is rather awkward and clumsily spoken. The story merely lies there to be appreciated much as a painting would be. The problem, this isn't a painting, but a film where different rules apply. The entire exercise feels academic. The actual painting currently hangs in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria. Indeed it would be much more dramatic to gaze upon the actual artwork for 96 minutes than to watch this boring artistic study. I will admit the movie would make the perfect DVD to sell in the gift shop there, or any art gallery for that matter. As art history, the film is visually incredible, but as a cinematic entertainment, it fails.

• Walter M

  
  In "The Mill and The Cross," the day starts like any other, centuries past in Flanders, as people go about their business and the mill which stands over everything begins operations. Children are cared for and animals are tended to. The calm is broken by the Spanish… More
  In "The Mill and The Cross," the day starts like any other, centuries past in Flanders, as people go about their business and the mill which stands over everything begins operations. Children are cared for and animals are tended to. The calm is broken by the Spanish militia who randomly brutally beat a man to death before hoisting his body to the top of a pole while his wife cries out below. Nicolaes Jonghelinck(Michael York), a leading citizen and banker, is angry but is helpless against something that is not an isolated incident, as the Spanish are targeting heretics. So, he commissions a religious painting from Pieter Bruegel(Rutger Hauer) that has a hidden meaning. On the surface, "The Mill and the Cross" is an interesting blend of art history and European history with a striking visual style, especially in the early internal shot of the mill. However, the idea never fully comes to life, even with Rutger Hauer and Charlotte Rampling present, forgetting that this is supposed to be a motion picture. By comparison, "Rembrandt's J'Accuse" was much more invigorating.

• Alec B

  
  Its most comparable with the first act of Stephen Sondheim's musical 'Sunday in the Park with George', where we meet the characters in a famous painting and see how they relate to the artist who created them. Here, the film is more concerned with the inner mechanics of… More
  Its most comparable with the first act of Stephen Sondheim's musical 'Sunday in the Park with George', where we meet the characters in a famous painting and see how they relate to the artist who created them. Here, the film is more concerned with the inner mechanics of the world of the painting rather than the people in it. The film is good, but falls short of achieving greatness because the idea is clear far beyond the ending. Once all the characters are gathered and the painting is achieved, everything that occurs after is essentially unnecessary.