The Writer's Life 6/1 - Art

Earlier in the year I was using the remote, desperate to find something interesting to watch, when I stumbled onto Reel Faith on the National Evangelical Television network. The show reviews films from a Christian viewpoint in a style similar to what Siskel and Ebert did on Sneak Previews. This particular episode focused on the best films of 2011. One showed up on each of the reviewers’ list, The Mill and the Cross, directed by Lech Majewski, a Pole. With my Netflix list growing short, I reluctantly added it, wary of being preached to. It is only remotely about religion. It is a challenging film completely out of the mainstream, almost too intelligent for its own good. It brings viewers into a painting by Breugel, The Way to Calvary, and shows how his ideas may have come about. The cinematography by Majewski and Adam Sikora is stunning. Dialogue is sparse. Most is assigned to Michael York, who plays a banker, the benefactor of the artist, played by Rutger Hauer. Without those words, the film may have been even a greater mystery than it is. I watched a 44-minute short in the special features to understand it better. The year is 1564 and the Flemish population of Flanders is under Spanish rule, and the conquerors are persecuting those they dub heretics. One of the themes is how the routines of life trump even monumental events. In the painting the crucifixion is almost lost amid 500 inhabitants, adults going about their business, children playing. The viewer has to know where to look to find it. It is as challenging as the film is. I almost nodded off a couple of times. Charlotte Rampling plays an inhabitant of the work, Mary, the mother of Christ. It seems Rampling will always be with me. The final scene of Sidney Lumet’s The Verdict (1982), in which Paul Newman stars as an alcoholic lawyer who finds redemption, still haunts me. In the final scene Rampling, who has betrayed Newman, desperately tries to reach him on the phone, drink in hand, their roles reversed. It was odd to seeing her in the role of a saint, especially given her role in The Night Porter (1974) and other racy films. Hey, that’s why they call it acting. The Mill and the Cross was adapted from a book by Michael Francis Gibson, who collaborated on the screenplay with Majewski. I don’t know how to rate a film like this. It requires patience and concentration. The folks at IMDb rated it 6.7 out of ten. Here’s a pic of the painting. Click to enlarge:

The last thing I expected to be on June 1st is cold. As soon as the clouds rolled in, the wind was no longer pleasant. Fortunately, lovely young Laura happened by to warm things up. Two years ago, the first time I set up the floating book shop on Avenue Z, she bought both Close to the Edge and A Hitch in Twilight. The next time I saw her she told me how much she liked Edge. She holds a special place in my heart. I hope she likes Killing as much. She recently took an exam to try to qualify for medical school. I know one thing – she would have a great bedside manner. What a sweetheart. Thank you, Laura, and also to Herbie and Madeline for their purchases, and to the local home attendant, whose ward sent her to me with a donation of about 20 books.

Visit Vic’s sites: Vic’s Third Novel (Print or Kindle): http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3

Vic’s Website: http://membershttp://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/

Vic’s Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb

Vic’s 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6

Vic’s 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h

Vic’s Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3f