Starring: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, and Cate Blanchett
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Runtime: 118 mins. Reviewed in Mar 2014
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This American-German war movie is based on a true story in the book, “The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History” by Robert M. Edsel, published in 2009.
During World War II, Frank Stokes (George Clooney) convinces President Franklin D. Roosevelt that the art treasures of the world should not be destroyed in the fighting, or lost through looting. The treasures should be returned to their rightful owners, and they represent a culture that cannot afford to be forgotten.
To prevent that happening, Stokes is directed by President Roosevelt to form a special unit called “The Monuments Men” to search for and retrieve the stolen art. The unit comprised a group of museum directors, museum curators, and art-historians, who were not very experienced in the savageries, atrocities, or cruelties of war. The movie begins in 1943 in Paris and finishes in 1977 in Bruges, Belgium at the foot of Michelangelo’s famed statue of the Madonna of Bruges.
In wartime Paris, Claire Simone (Kate Blanchett, taking the role of Rose Vallone) finds herself being forced to help Nazi Officers oversee the theft of art for Adolf Hitler and his senior commanders. At first, Simone refuses to cooperate with the unit to thwart the looters. But when she learns that priceless pieces of art will be rightfully returned and may be destroyed if Hitler dies, or Germany falls, she communicates all she knows. The unit, helped by the information she gives, discovers finally where the remaining art is being hidden and priceless pieces are evacuated just before the Soviets arrive.
At the conclusion of the movie, an elderly Stokes takes his grandson to view Michelangelo’s “Madonna and Child” in Bruges, and confirms that his unit’s sacrifices were well worthwhile, even though two of his men died. Under the US program, more than five million works of art were saved or discovered in Nazi hiding-places, which included salt mines, castles, and other mine sites. Contained in the collection were Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa”, da Vinci’s “Last Supper”, Michelangelo’s “Madonna and Child” and Auguste Rodin’s “The Burghers of Calais”.
The film is based very loosely on fact. In reality, The Monuments group was far greater in number and was drawn widely from many nations. There are hints of that in this movie, but
the movie places virtually sole focus on just 7 men, and the film gives James Granger (Matt Damon), who was curator of the Mediaeval Art Section of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, an emotional entanglement with Claire Simone that had no basis in fact.
The movie attempts to keep its audience laughing or smiling, and to some extent the goal to entertain in this way is achieved, but Clooney’s direction-strategy, diminishes the force of the real-life drama. The movie had the chance to spark significant debate about the hidden costs of war, but pulled back to entertain. It is full of patriotic values and the expression of noble-sounding themes, and interestingly portrays the enormous influence of Church on Art, but it is caught between comedy and something heavier, and mediocre scripting prevents us knowing, or exploring, the personalities of the characters who were involved. Characters in the movie grapple with the violence of war, while taking time out to express their profound appreciation of fine art. It is a combination that doesn’t entirely work, and part of the problem is that one is far too easily distracted by the bon-ami interactions of 7 likeable people.
This is a film with a stellar cast that includes Matt Damon, George Clooney, Bill Murray, and John Goodman, and their star quality is evident. But the film is episodic in nature, as it moves from one war zone to another.
This is a story about what happened behind enemy lines for the sake of Art. The film needed to be more ironic than it is to be bitingly effective, or much more serious than it is to achieve highly compelling drama. But it entertains.
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