The Mill and the Cross (2011) on Netflix
Flanders, 1564. Pieter Bruegel paints The Procession to Calvary, a canvas of 500 figures. Peasants, a miller and Mary move within it while the King of Spain's militia executes Protestants nearby.
- Netflix3.1/5
- IMDb6.9/104,656 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes79%
Trailer
Plot summary
Inside a single painting, 500 figures go about their lives in Flanders in 1564. The film singles out about a dozen of them: peasants at their everyday tasks, a miller, Mary, the artist's wife Marijken, and Nicolaes Jonghelinck. Their vignettes are broken by Pieter Bruegel himself, who explains the structure and symbolism of the canvas he is making, The Procession to Calvary, and the film follows the making of the picture alongside the world it shows. That world is occupied Flanders, where the militia of the King of Spain executes Flemish Protestants, and the suffering of Christ in the painting answers what the painter sees around him.
Cast
- Joanna Litwinas Marijken Bruegel
- Dorota Lisas Saskia Jonghelinck
- Bartosz Capowiczas Crucified
- Mateusz Machnikas Wheelfied
- Sylwia Szczerbaas Netje
- Wojciech Mierkulowas Jan
- Ruta Kubasas Esther
- Jan Wartakas Simon
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Mill and the Cross (2011)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film was designed as a narrative recreation of Pieter Bruegel's 1564 The Procession to Calvary and intended to let viewers 'live inside' the painting, evoking a scene Bruegel often witnessed: the execution of a Flemish Protestant by the militia of the King of Spain.
