The Mill follows the horrors of a businessman when he finds himself inside an eerie open-air prison, confined to nothing but an ancient grain mill. Expected to be silently enslaved throughout his imprisonment, Joe tries to find his way out of this nightmare as his wife is expecting their first newborn.
In Sean King O’Grady’s dystopian thriller starring Lil Rel Howery, the story unfolds within the confines of a small space, stressing a deep anger about dehumanizing workforce mentalities. The film explores the unsettling reality of corporate companies thriving on the ruthless labor of people reduced to mere numbers in the eyes of their wealthy autocrats. While the film tries to capture the concept of loyalty, often demanded by the people in power, The Mill stresses the present threat of AI taking over everything.
The article contains spoilers; hence, read at your discretion.
The Mill (2023) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
What is the Hulu movie The Mill (2023) about?
The film opens with Joe waking up locked inside a prison-like structure. Thick walls from all sides cover the open sky structure with no access to the outside world and a huge stone mill in the middle. Joe is confused and tries to climb the wall, but his efforts are unsuccessful. Just then, he hears a man’s voice from the neighboring cell warning him about the impending phase that Joe will be experiencing, which includes more confusion and agony. While Joe tries to wrap his head around his new reality, one of the guards drops some basic confectioneries and a water bottle. We learn that Joe is a middle manager at Mallard, his wife is expecting their first child, and since he is excited to be a father, he has put his personal life before the company’s. However, prioritizing his life over his professional pursuit has somehow slipped his performance, landing him in prison. He explains this to his neighbor, who we only hear and never see throughout the film.
The following day, the AI-generated voice instructs Joe that he is now in the ‘career training’ phase of the company, with his working hours being from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., and his work involves pushing the stone mill. He is also told that he needs to meet his minimum quota of the day, and failing to do so will result in his death. The catch here is that the minimum quota of 50 revolutions is just a number, and whichever employee in the prison gets the lowest number will be terminated, regardless of whether they complete their quota.
Why does Joe get penalized despite his outstanding performance?
On the first day, he completes 100 revolutions, but his neighbor warns him about not pushing himself too hard or else Mallard will expect more from him day-to-day. However, Joe thinks working hard will be his ticket to freedom and a return to his pregnant wife. He uses this motivation and, the next day, ends up doing 370 revolutions. However, like a typical corporate entity, Mallard doesn’t respect Joe for his productivity and instead rewards him with an engraved pen. Seeing that Mallard doesn’t care about anything, he loses his calm and yells obscene things out of frustration. The following day, Joe wakes up to find his new quota as 370, and on top of it, as a punishment for his behavior the previous night, he has been penalized, and every two rotations will be counted as one, making his new quota 740.
Is Joe able to escape the prison cell?
The concept of unrealistic targets and pushing employees to their extremes, exhausting them with unachievable goals, is well captured in the scene. Joe, who has been performing well despite being exhausted and desperate for freedom, fails to complete his daily quota on that day. The next day, Mallard shows footage of his wife in the hospital with their newborn child to motivate Joe to work hard and return to normal life. Joe is confused about the time gap and, wanting to get out of prison, works hard the next day and is able to complete 740 revolutions. While talking to his neighbor, an impulse makes him want to escape the prison, and after being pointed to a weak wall away from the Mallard camera in the cell, he starts to chip the wall with the pen. Days pass, and some ‘Shawshank Redemption’ days later, Joe manages to chip a hole big enough for him to crawl through. Realizing that there is no escape from the dark dungeon, Joe gets caught by the prison guard and is brought back to his cell. Mallard punishes him with a new quota of completing 1000 revolutions.
Who is Mallard?
The man in the next cell explains to him that while he was working with Mallard in the tech team, he was one of the men who helped the company develop an algorithm that created its own algorithm and now controls the entire Mallard. Joe is shocked and starts shouting about how everything happening to them is unacceptable. He tries to form a union with his fellow cellmates and convince them not to work. The whole day passes, and nobody touches the mill; however, Mallard AI announces that not finishing the daily task would lead to mass termination, and Joe will be responsible for it. Fearing death, everyone, including Joe, slowly goes back to rotating the mill. The man in the next cell cannot make any revolutions since the guards broke his legs as a punishment for being an accomplice to Joe’s escape attempt.
Who is Alex?
When Joe notices the name “Alex” carved on the mill handle, he becomes curious and asks the man in the next cell about the name. It turns out the man is Alex and was shifted to another cell after his unsuccessful attempt to escape the prison. Joe then bids farewell, knowing that since Alex couldn’t finish his daily job, it will lead to his death. When he goes to sleep, he hears Alex screaming in pain as the guards kill him, making Joe squirm in agony.
The Mill (2023) Movie Ending Explained:
Why does Joe get terminated from Mallard prison?
The next day, Mallard AI shows another footage of his son, a grown-up little boy. Seeing how much time he might have lost inside this cell, he becomes infuriated. The AI then declares that his inappropriate behavior is the cause of his immediate termination. Just then, a group of Mallard employees walk in along with an HR personnel who prepares a lethal injection to terminate Joe. Enraged due to the constant gaslighting by the HR and Mallard’s tactics, he becomes angrier and starts hitting the man in the face into a pulp. When he notices the man is about to die, he stops and screams to the Mallard AI that he is not a monster and wants to quit.
Does Joe quit Mallard?
The words ‘I quit’ instantly bring Joe back to reality, where he finds himself inside a lab-like simulation setup. He is wearing a business suit, and tiny brain monitors are taped on his forehead to capture his brain activities. It turns out that Mallard has developed a virtual reality experience, much like the gaming world, to test and push their employees to achieve their full potential. Joe, who has always stood out because of his performance, had agreed to take on this training program during one of his lunch breaks. All this time, he was immersed in this prison world for an hour.
In reality, the HR person he had tried to harm inside the prison is a real HR person. We learn that Mallard is highly impressed with Joe’s talents and is ready to offer him a promotion to the management department. The HR then takes him to his new office and orients him with his new targets and productivity expectations. They even have Joe sign an NDA stating that he cannot share anything about the Mallard experience with anyone; otherwise, he will jeopardize his career.
What does the last scene of the Hulu movie The Mill signify?
Traumatized, Joe silently hangs onto every word the HR person tells him. Once left alone in his cabin, he takes out his phone from his blazer and calls his wife, surprising her during the middle of his workday. Joe expresses his gratitude and love to his wife and even addresses his unborn child that he can’t wait to meet him. He then informs his wife that he will be returning home late, a situation she finds unsurprising. After speaking to his wife, the ending of “The Mill” (2023) shows Joe staring directly into the camera and stating his intent to bring Mallard down –Â teasing us with a possible sequel to the movie.
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