The film opens on a dark church room, frenzied priests quickly dismantling their altarpiece, one of the most beloved and famous piece of artwork belonging to Christianity: The Gent Altarpiece.
Fearing what the incoming Nazis would do to it, the hide the piece and task two priests to sneak it out of town. Neither the priests nor the altarpiece reach their destination.
Based upon a real events World War II,
The Monuments Men aims to shed light upon a forgotten group of people that did a great justice for the world: The preservation and return of millions of pieces of priceless art.
I'm pretty sure that many people don't know that the Nazis took to the idea of hording all the great pieces of art for themselves. Some probably wont really understand the implications of such a thing. That's worth a whole discussion itself, but the movie does a really good job of showing those implications. Sadly, that's about the only good thing it does.
The real monuments men
Taking place in the last few months of the War, the movie follows the exploits of a group of men (there were women too, left out though) that join the war in order to save the great pieces of art from the Nazis. The cast itself is well done. Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, John Goodman, etc. play there roles well, but the script and character profiles let them down. The movie never gives us a good impression of what these men do in life and who they are.
The same goes for Cate Blanchett's character, Claire Simone. Claire comes off spiteful and flat. I want to sympathize with her, and what she's been through, but the lack of background and emphasis on her makes this impossible.
The Bruge Madonna, featured in the film
Also, no offense to George Clooney, but the movie itself jumps around with an air of unearned importance. It isn't until the end that the movie successfully comes together, when the cast is reunited and finally finds success.
Raphael's Portrait of a Young Man, lost during the war and never found
The visuals to redeem the film, though. The locations were well utilized, and the war-torn scenery was well done. It definitely gives the viewer a nostalgic feeling of the 1940's, right down to all the cigarette smoking. The feel of the movie also fits right in with the other World War II movies. Maybe not as bloody, but it still gives glimpses of the horrors of war.
Perhaps the movie is depending on our previous cultural experiences with World War II. Perhaps it hoped we would feel the pain and worries of people during this time. Perhaps the book it was based upon is so grande that it was just too hard to convert to film.
Nazi art hoard
In the end, the movie did successfully make my heart ache. The scenes of the destruction of art and the massive hoards make the historian in me sad and reminiscent of the burning of the Library of Alexandria.
The fact that there are still thousands of missing pieces of art, some of which were undoubtedly destroyed, lurks in the final moments of the film. It is a foreboding and frightening realization of a culture literally being destroyed.
van Gogh's The Painter on the Road to Tarascon, lost and still missing. Possible burned.
Overall, it does a fairly decent job getting its point across. I do agree with other reviews that the movie would have been better off as an epic mini-series. Extra time would have done wonders for the rushed and underdeveloped plot.
Anyways, I give the movie a 6/10. I'd watch it again if it's on t.v., but wouldn't go out and buy a dvd. I would also recommend it to any lovers of history and of art. Its a movie made for you!
So, have you checked out the movie? What do you think? Leave a comment below and, as always, subscribe share if you likey~
*Pinterest got the pics from real artists. Also, I need to go to more museums :/ *
