Polish director and multimedia artist Lech Majewski (Angelus, The Garden of Earthly Delights) and American scriptwriter/art connoisseur Michael Gibson were inspired by Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s painting Christ Carrying the Cross. As well as a mill and a cross, more than 500 people feature on this canvas from 1564: from Jesus, Mary and John the Baptist to several groups. Majewski and Gibson take 12 characters from the painting and combine their stories with the creation of the canvas. The Passion of Christ is interwoven with the oppression of the Flemish by the Spaniards in a refined film that meanders between the absurd and the metaphysical, the blasphemous and the aesthetic. Majewski painted the sets and uses the latest digital techniques to transfer the actors to the world of Bruegel. Rutger Hauer plays a wonderful Bruegel, Charlotte Rampling is Mary and Michael York plays art collector Nicholas Jonghelinck.
Film details
- Countries of production
- Poland, Sweden
- Year
- 2011
- Festival edition
- IFFR 2011
- Length
- 91'
- Medium/Format
- HDcam
