Every Execution has its history.
Computer
generated special effects have come a long way in the last ten years, moving
closer and closer to a fantasy-based realism unlike anything so far presented
on screen. This is all well and good,
and realist-minded film theorists have argued for a fidelity to life-like
artistic representation since the advent of cinema, but I feel a downside also
exists. That downside comes in the form of that spectacle’s dwindling ability
to awe its audience and the audience loses its ability to imagine, to stretch
the limits of belief. Therefore it’s refreshing to see, on occasion, a film utilizing
CGI technology in order to trigger an audience’s imagination in a way that
allows them to interpret images, to fill in gaps.
Such a film
is Lech Majewski’s The Mill and the Cross
and my approach to art history will never be the same after this. It invites the viewer to literally enter the
mind of Flemish master Pieter Bruegel and glean the deeper meaning of his 1564
painting “The Way to Calvary.” A first
that we can only hope sets a precedent, Majewski uses Bruegel’s preparatory
drawings, computer generated blue-screen compositing, 3D imaging, a huge
painted backdrop as well as on location shooting to invite the viewer into the
craggy landscape where all the rituals of daily life unfold. What you’ll learn is that against the
backdrop of the brutal Spanish Inquisition, Breugel had to be clever and he imbedded
his work with a series of symbols that tell a compelling crucifixion
story. There are more than 500 figures
in the panoramic painting, including an array of villagers at different
stations in life and the red-caped invading horsemen who butchered and then
suspended them on huge wheels for all to see.
Rutger Hauer plays a Breugel who imparts wisdom about life and art that
makes us hunger for more. Charlotte
Rampling delivers a Virgin Mary whose suffering is palpable. The film is based
on Michael Francis Gibson’s novel bearing the same name.
The film’s
plot is thin to the point of being nonexistent; Bruegel, played by Rutger
Hauer, sketches out and paints The Way to Calvary while explaining it to his
patron, Nicolaes Jonghelinck, played by Michael York. The film’s particular
genius lies not in this simple plot, but in how it is visually presented. The
painting itself surrounds Bruegel, with the figures he details living and
breathing in the space around him, moving beings occupying a CGI constructed
background that captures the tones and depth of Bruegel’s brushstrokes. Llech
Majewskiallows the viewer to actually live inside Pieter Bruegel’s bustling
Flanders landscape as he creates his 1564 masterpiece The Way to Calvary. Bruegel
wields the power to freeze his figures, to isolate certain elements while
others move on undisturbed, manipulating the fragments of his work to his
liking. The result is not, as so many CGI worlds are, a reality dependent on
fantasy, but rather a fantasy dependent on reality. Bruegel’s world and his
painting are very much real, but Majewski’s film presents them in a way that is
more than real, that is surreal.
Now, I will
say viewing this film takes a certain amount of patience, and may not be for
everyone. In most films, CGI is synonymous with a certain level of action that
is not present in The Mill and the Cross.
However, for those with an interest in art history, unconventional narrative,
or simply something outside standard cinematic fare, The Mill and the Cross not only pays off, but stands up to multiple
viewings as well.