Not exactly Monumental but Worth a watch

Rating: 7/10 (7 December 2014)

George Clooney's Monuments Men, Has been universally savaged in the German press (which I read regularly -- mainly the feulliton and kultur pages -- five daily newpapers!) -- and all Germans I have talked with about it personally, disliked it on various "film critical" grounds ~ typical clever comment: "CLooney is a better actor than a director" ~ ho- ho, Now ain't that clever... But, I liked it -- not as any profound oeuvre du cinema, but as straight forward Hollywood star entertainment about a very interesting subject -- period -- With good period reconstruction to boot. It's a typical sincere Clooneyesque attempt to make a 'meaningful picture' for the general public and simultaneously inform about a little known sideline story of WW II --- namely, the plundering of classic art by the Nazi pigwigs -- not that this subject hasn't been taken up before in other films -- but it nevertheless remains little known -- Okay, this is nowhere near the level of Clooney's study of E.R. Murrow "Good night and good luck" (Very well directed and acted!) -- but it isn't bad and it is a well structured piece of WW II entertainment in which you get to see a lot of familiar quality actors like John Goodman and Bill Murray in unfamiliar roles, plus, the WW II military costumery -- the period reconstruction, etc. With which I happen to very familiar, was very well done --so, in general : A Pretty good piece of historical entertainment .... In this writer's humble opinion, what the Germans really didn't like about this picture is the fact that it once again reminds the massive international public which is the automatic following of George Clooney, about just one more aspect of the collective criminality of the German People during those years ... I am sure that many Germans who on the surface dis-identify with the Nazis still, deep down, feel that Germany was "entitled" to the spoils of war after the humiliation of Versailles, 1919 -- in other words -- ahem, ahem -- and mind you, I like this country and have numerous personal friendships with all kinds of Germans - - I am convinced that a bit of admiration for Hitler and latent Naziism still lurks in the collective subconscious of this proud Merkelian nation -- including in the minds of many who are truly anti-Nazi and ashamed of how the Nazis besmirched the reputation of this country forever, in spite of Goethe, Beethoven, Wagner (!!) and all those other Geniuses who gave Germany such a high international rating ...prior to WW II -- The operative factor in terms of Collective Mentality -- is -- collective SHAME! .. And corresponding painful guilt feelings that need to be washed away! The Germans -- at least any German who has a shred of a conscience (gewissen) -- cannot help but feel some kind of shame deep down, because many Young Germans alive and active today in the New Germany -- still have -- like it or not --- grandfathers, grand- uncles, grand aunts and etcetera -- some of THEM -- still alive and kicking -- who were Concentration Camp guards and overseers, and Einsatz Gruppen members (common soldiers whose job it was to follow the main Wehrmacht east and "mop up after them" ) -- by simply mass murdering every Jew they could find -- old men women and children -- and these were ordinary Germans -- bank tellers and grocery store clerks in everyday life -- who willingly signed up for mass murder of innocent civilians even if they were not exactly card carrying Nazis. --- --- The bottom line is that a certain Nazi mentality is deeply embedded in the collective German mind, even today, although most good Germans would hate to admit it -- but it comes out indirectly, when the mass of Germans, whether film critics directly in print, or regular film goers who just love American movies -- feel a necessity ~~ yes, I would call it a necessity -- to condemn a movie like "Monuments Men" on (ahem) technical grounds ... When what they are really condemning is the constant reminders of the unbelievably gigantic crimes of their Immediate ancestors -- while not one word is ever said about the actual plundering their uncles and grandfathers committed in the name of The Greater Glory of Deutschland Über Alles ... And that's mah rooling -- Judge Roy Beane, Berlin. Feb. 21. 2014