The Mill and the Cross - an homage to Bruegel...
... and so much more.
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:
http://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....