A barrel of gold teeth is the (only) telling moment

Rating: Null/10 (26 February 2014)

This is a movie which it's easy to watch but harder to approve of. Particular emphasis is placed on a medieval altarpiece and a Michelangelo sculpture of the Madonna, both looted from two churches in Belgium; other works were taken from national collections, but the film also acknowledges that the vast majority were taken from the private homes of wealthy Jews.
In one of the salt-mine hideaways Clooney's team open a barrel filled with gold teeth, a chilling reminder that the Jews were robbed of a lot more than their paintings when they were dragged from their homes and transported to the Eastern death camps. The film needed more moments like this. The overall feel of THE MONUMENTS MEN is of a 'caper' or heist story along the lines of THE DIRTY DOZEN or WHERE EAGLES DARE. 1995's THREE KINGS did a better job of combining a thrilling treasure hunt with a harrowing vision of terrorisers citizens.
George Clooney's character, in defensive mode, more than once argues that the theft of great art is the theft of a nation's cultural heritage. This is true, but the real cost of war (look at Syria and Libya today) is the cost of lives and livelihoods. Yes, this mission saved thousands of precious paintings and sculptures, but the Holocaust and the destruction of entire countries needs to be remembered as more than a background detail.