Thematic discussion

Rating: 7/10 (30 July 2014)

Does art belong to one man or all mankind? The Monuments Men believed it was their duty to scour Europe during World War 2 to find the paintings, sculptures, and other artifacts stolen by Hitler for his own personal library and return them to their rightful owners. Over the course of the film we follow Matt Damon, George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Bill Murray and John Goodman to see how all of this unfolded.
While lighthearted there was a desperate tone to the film at times. We get to watch the tone of the film change from the Americans trying to get to the stolen art then we get to see the Germans desperate attempt to destroy the art they have stolen. Towards the end of the film we get to witness the race to get the Ghent Altarpiece and the Madonna out of Germany before the Russians take over after the end of the European campaign. The film cuts back and forth between the Russians racing down the street while US soldiers push a cart loaded with statues out of a mine really drive home the race against time.
One of the scenes I found interesting was when Walter Garfield, played by John Goodman and his partner Preston Savitz played by Bob Balaban stumble upon a "French" farmer who is studying art. As they look at his collection they slowly realize that these pieces are stolen and not just replicas as he mentioned before. We see many shots of the farmer and former SS member fiddling with his hands, and as Savitz asks him if his wife speaks English you have a feeling this could get ugly quickly. This scene reminds me of the scene in Inglorious Basterds during Operation Kino. The tension is not as palpable in The Monuments Men. I don't think matching that scene would have fit the nature of this film but I got the same butterflies during both of these scenes.
The film did have a few laughable moments here and there, mostly in the form of one-liners and kill Hitler jokes. However the film never strayed from the point that this really was a once in a lifetime mission and our soldiers would stop at nothing to see this art returned to its rightful place.