lena s
Simply a masterpiece.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
03/30/23
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Audience Member
What a truly remarkable accomplishment in terms of jaw-dropping visuals, but the problem is that Cinema is not Painting, and so Majewski is unable to transpose the symbolism of Bruegel's work to the screen without relying on an expository explanation of his intentions.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/14/23
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Audience Member
An art movie about the 16th century's arts. It was based on the book of the same name which details the landscaper Pieter Bruegel's painting 'The Procession to Calvary'. A movie specially made for classical painting lovers.
The movie had very less talkings and everything should be learnt by watching the pictures which depicts painting like series of frames. So there's nothing much to talk about the movie. One of the best ever production designs. Frankly, I was less enjoyed due to lack of knowledge about Bruegel, but glad I saw it and come to know few things about 1500s culture through his paintings.
After all, I was not stranger to 'The Procession to Calvary' only by a few weeks before watching this movie. Recently I saw a movie called 'Museum Hours' and it helped a bit to understand this movie. In that movie a guide, an expert briefs in a scene about this painting and the reason behind it.
It was a very unique movie, which still won't exactly portray as it had happened. A glimpse about the idea of it might have been like that. More like an imaginary world created behind the magnificent art work. Not suitable for all, especially those who watch movies for entertainment should stay away from it.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/30/23
Full Review
Audience Member
<b>Where, oh God, do I begin? Please, give me Thy grace, for this humble review shalt be for Thou.</b>
Attention, readers, because we may be witnessing the absolute best masterpiece of 2011, and the most artistically visionary project of the whole decade and since 1979. Please refer to <a href = "http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Pieter_Bruegel_d._%C3%84._007.jpg">this masterwork</a> before proceeding any further.
<i>The Procession to Calvary</i> is a 1564 painting by the Flemish Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The intention of the painting, beyond showing Bruegel's constant evolution in his naturalism and in his domain over landscapes and characters, was to contrast earthly life against God's Almighty presence.
<b>The Mill</b>: The controller of time and motion; the machinery rising high above everybody that dictates when human action and Nature itself should be moving, and when should they be standing still.
<b>The Miller</b>: God's "replacement". He has control of the mill, and therefore has control over the responsibility of time and motion.
<b>The Town</b>: Located on the left side. It represents the Circle of Life.
<b>The Execution</b>: Located on the right side. It represents the Circle of Death, as it conglomerates people wanting to witness the execution "like flies".
<b>The Tree</b>: Located on the left side. It represents The Tree of Life, next to the town, covered with fresh leafs.
<b>The Wheel</b>: Located on the right side, at the top of the wooden post. It represents the Tree of Death, as it once was the resting place of a wheelified man. A crow stands on top of it, after having a feast with fresh and dead human flesh.
<b>Simon</b>: Located steps behind Christ and his Cross. He attracts the attention of the people as he is forced out and drawn from his wife in order to assist Christ.
<b>The Mother of God</b>: Located on the botton right side, at the top of a rocky terrain. Disconsolate and helpless,she is assisted during her grief.
<b>Jesus Christ</b>: The most important character in the painting. Located on the center, but still ignored by the people, it is the heart and core of the painting, but He was given a lack of attention for you to wonder through the painting until you discover Christ in the middle of all things, because you missed appreciating Him before.
<b>Lech Majewski</b>: Director of the film, music composer and, now, a visionary artist. <i>The Mill and the Cross</i> is a stupendous homage to a now forgotten and underappreciated art form: painting. Reminding us that cinema is poetry in motion, the film understands the honor of capturing all of the anecdotes, lives, breathing creatures, stunning landscapes, kids laughing... Interiors and exteriors... Lust and love... The creative process... The duality of Divinity and the human condition... The pact between the Miller as God's replacement and the artist that is in control of everything. The painter commands, God obeys and stops time, the painter reflects on what has been done so far, the painter commands again, life reassumes its course.
Stylistically, this very important contemporary celluloid contribution employs the omniscient narrative structure of Tarkovsky's <i>Zerkalo</i> (1975) and the colorful and visual dynamics of Jancsó's <i>Szerelmem, Elektra</i> (1974), two of the best feature films ever made. Majewski, still, applies his own signature and conquers spaces with the most expertly crafted camera movement, making his own artistic observations and closing with a Raoul Ruiz fashion, employing a shot reminiscent of <i>L'hypothèse du tableau volé</i> (1978) and giving proper credit to the original source of art like Tarkovsky did in <i>Andrey Rublyov</i> (1966), the original painting, now resting in the great halls of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
98/100
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/22/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Very interesting film-project. It only has three speaking roles, but one of those is strictly voice-overs, and I'd say this is the strongest performance of both Rutger Hauer and Michael York for, well, decades, as limited as those roles are. But mostly, this film places the viewer inside a painting. Indeed, it's more a collection of re-enactment scenes of the everyday lives of early 16th century Low Countries, than an coherent narrative in the traditional sense of the word. Between the first lines opening the film, and the next line, it's a long, long time, with mostly silent everyday work. That takes some getting used to. At the end of the day, it's really the stunning photography that carries the project - every frame is very beautifully shot, and so far from the typical Hollywood blockbuster fast-food-conveyor-belt movie making.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/15/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Es mas bien una reflexion visual y analitica del cuadro de Brueghel "Cristo cargando la cruz", y poco más. Pretensiosa y a la vez sencilla, de una belleza visual poco usual y que recuerda las elucubraciones iconograficas de Peter Greenaway. No alcanza ningun drama, es una sucesion de imagenes y escenas vinculadas entre si que apelan al deleite de los sentidos. Yes lo que el autor pretendía, consiguiendo su proposito sobradamente.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/07/23
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