"Art for art's sake" in this mild war film about a crack unit of artists.

Rating: Null/10 (18 February 2014)

Around this St Valentine's Day is the usual slew of romance-based films, but also rather surprisingly, a bunch of war-films too. This film caught my interest, seeming to deliver a nice balance in entertainment, without making the subject-matter too heavy, and so it turned out.
Film is by 20th Century Fox and Columbia. It stars George Clooney, who also directed and produced it, as well as wrote the screenplay. Thus this is very much George Clooney's baby. Last year he merely played second fiddle to Sandra Bullock in the critically acclaimed 'Gravity'. If that film showcased Miss Bullock, then this one does the same, in spades, for Mr Clooney. Like 'The Descendants' of two years previously, once again we have a film that captures a mix of emotions.
This is a war film so it tends to follow a well trod format. Like, for example, 'The Dirty Dozen' (1967), it starts with a military objective being set out. Then the unit is recruited and trained, before finally going into action. However apart from this being set in WWII, just as was 'TDD', in most other aspects this film is very different.
Firstly, it is important to state, as the film itself does, that this film is based on a true story. George Clooney plays the part of an artistic type, who knowing the threat to the art world posed by the war, is tasked to assemble a group of educated and like-minded individuals, to go and protect and rescue art-works threatened with destruction or theft.
Film opens with the art-saving scenario and quickly moves on to the recruitment and basic-training of the unit. Before much time has elapsed the unit has been sent across the Channel to France where war is raging. Like 'TDD', this film too, has an all-star cast. Matt Damon rightly deserves his second billing with his very entertaining character. He is required to speak French, and I could not get enough of this. His French is subtitled, so that we can enjoy the full richness of his dialogue. So do mind the French.
The French joie de vivre, is displayed perfectly by Cate Blanchett. The scenes between Miss Blanchett and Mr Damon, seem to capture perfectly the essence of the time. Mr Clooney seems to capture this well too in a Christmas scene. This one, like others in the film, captures the good and the bad. In war there is laughter as well as tears, joy and sadness. The fact of the very fragility of life, in war, is shown in the mix of emotions. Everything is intensified, from comradeship to mafioso horse.
In style then, this film, if anything, is shot in the same style as 'The Great Escape' (1963). That film too was based on a true story. Like this one, it was populated with interesting characters, had funny scenes, and sad scenes. So yes, like 'TGE', 'TMM' is a sort of boys own adventure story, a romp, and a ripping good yarn. However it is still a war story, and several scenes have been inserted that reflect the worst of times that were WWII. So, be prepared to be entertained, but be prepared also for a lump in the throat, and the tears to well up too.
Before WWII, Winston Churchill warned of the rise of the Nazis, and when the war had started, he was rightly the man needed to step into the breach. He viewed the struggle as one between Civilisation and a new Dark Age. As the Huns, Goths, and Vandals, destroyed The Roman Empire, so too the art-destroying, book-burning, Hunnish Nazis, even as they retreated, as they faced defeat, seemed determined to plunge Europe into a new Dark Age. This film shines a light on a story, that helped prevent the darkness descending, and helped us to emerge, (one scene in particular very explicitly shows this in a metaphorical way), emerge from the darkness, and into the light.
For many years, 'The Great Escape', was traditional Christmas fayre (at least for the British anyway). Now Mr Clooney has made a modern film that can compete with that one. Like that one, this film is populated by ordinary people, trying to do extraordinary things. The film captures well the breadth of the war; unlike some Hollywood productions that show only the Americans winning the war, this film seems to make an effort to show accurately the Allied effort. So we encounter Limeys as well as Yanks on the Western Front. The French Resistance is also mentioned. The Eastern Front is not entirely neglected, so watch out for the Russkies too, they were players too, in this story too!
As said, this film, in tone, is very much like 'The Great Escape'. So enjoy it, and cheer along, as our heroes battle against the evil Nazis. Film is a romp suitable for nearly all of the family except those whose more delicate dispositions are easily upset.
Based on a true story, this is an entertaining, good, and uplifting, film. A war story with some comedic moments, and some sad ones too. 10/10.
C'mon the artists!