London ( CNN ) -- Depicting , among other things , Christ 's procession to the cross , Spanish soldiers presiding over an execution in sixteenth-century Flanders and a mysterious mill perched atop a hollow cliff , Pieter Bruegel the Elder 's 1564 painting `` The Way to Calvary '' is a complex , multi-layered work laden with symbolism and drama . Looking at it , according to Polish director Lech Majewski , is rather like watching a movie unfold -- which is why he has brought the painting to life in his new feature film `` The Mill and the Cross . '' `` I started as a painter and as a poet and I went to make movies strictly because I believed that the painters I was fascinated would be making movies if they were still alive , '' he told CNN . Based on a book about the painting called `` The Mill and the Cross , '' Majewski 's film shows Bruegel ( played by Rutger Hauer ) discussing the development of his work with patron Nicolaes Jonghelinck ( played by Michael York ) . Faithfully recreated vignettes play out alongside scenes portraying the artist 's creative process , while others depict a mysterious miller figure , representing God , presiding over a mill improbably located on top of a sheer , hollow cliff . `` The Mill and the Cross '' premiered in London in March , and has received favorable reviews , notably from `` The New York Times , '' whose critic Daniel M. Gold called the film an `` inspiring , alluring meditation about imagery and storytelling . '' Majewksi is drawn to bringing art to life : he wrote the screenplay for 1996 film `` Basquiat , '' about the life of New York artist Jean-Michel Basquiat , and directed 2004 film `` The Garden of Earthly Delights , '' which follows an art historian entering into Hieronymus Bosch 's famous triptych . `` For me , Bruegel is time , '' said the director . `` You can not just come and look once at one of his paintings , you always have to enter the work . `` He has this magnetic pull and once you 're in , you become entangled in what the figures are doing and you make up your own stories . You can spend your whole life with it , easily outside of the length of a movie , '' he said . Transporting the painting into such a different medium , however , took patience : The result is a mix of old-fashioned craftsmanship and the latest in digital film-making technology . Costumes were hand-sewn by Polish seamstresses and dyed with tints made from boiled onions , beetroots and apples , as they would have been in Bruegel 's day ; the `` right '' color black was achieved by burning a candle against a pane of glass , rather than relying on computers to recreate the exact hue ; and Majewski himself had to take up Bruegel 's brush and complete a partially-visible tree in the top-left corner of the painting to extend the field of vision for the camera to pan across . But some of the more complex scenes , such as the motions of the mill on the rock , required the use of 3D and CGI . `` Many times I felt that we were doing a digital tapestry , thread by thread , '' said Majewski . `` We were extremely lucky in that we were riding the crest of wave in technological advancements because literally every week the guys in the computer department were discovering new plug-ins and new developments in the field and employing it for what I wanted to achieve , '' he said . The film , he explained , was composed of layers , because the Flanders of the painting is a surreal figment of the artist 's imagination , comprising seven different perspectives . Obtaining the `` key '' to this aesthetic was hard work , said Majewski , because `` Bruegel is a magician in creating these illusory kinds of funnels in the painting . '' He added : `` His landscapes are like funnels that your eye is dipped into and goes to naturally ; he knows how to keep your eye employed and moving . '' An exhibition of Lech Majewski 's work , including his film installation `` Bruegel Suite , '' based on `` The Mill and the Cross '' is currently on view at The Wapping Project in London . `` The Mill and the Cross '' opens in cinemas in Italy on March 30 , in Argentina in April , and in Spain in June . The painting which inspired the film , Bruegel 's `` Procession to Calvary '' is in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum , Vienna .
Painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder is brought to life in new movie `` The Mill and the Cross '' Film by Polish director Lech Majewski , who wrote 1996 film `` Basquiat '' Image brought to life through painstaking craftsmanship and latest technology . Director describes the resulting film as a `` digital tapestry ''