Clooney's episodic tale of WW II team of stolen art finders, fails to work dramatically

Rating: 4/10 (2 March 2014)

'Monuments Men' is based on the true life team assembled during World War II, of museum directors, curators and art historians, assigned to save pieces of art before they were destroyed by the Nazis. According to the article, 'How Accurate is Monuments Men?', featured in Slate Magazine online, the original task of what was to become MFAA (Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives), was to protect historical buildings and not recover works of art. The film is only very loosely based on the true historical events so the question arises, has Mr. George Clooney successfully adapted the story to the silver screen, so that it works dramatically? The answer, unfortunately, is no.
'Monuments Men' would have worked much better as a documentary but Clooney was determined to turn this into a rip-roaring action-adventure flick with a few comic interludes. The problem of course is that there is no central antagonist throughout the film. The nature of the mission was that it occurred in different locales and at different times, hence the narrative had to be episodic in nature. So we're introduced to one villain after another--and once each one is disposed of, we move on to the next.
'Monuments Men' begins with Frank Stokes (Clooney) assembling his crackerjack team of art experts who must undergo basic training, before they're thrust into combat. It's sort of like 'The Dirty Dozen' with the characters being much more low-key and with little panache. Matt Damon as James Granger is assigned to learn as much as he can from Paris curator Claire Simone (a convincing Cate Blanchett), who kept a journal of all the art work stolen by Viktor Stahl, a Nazi official, who she was forced to work with prior to the German retreat (there is an unlikely scene where Stahl fires his pistol at Claire, as she watches trains loaded with the stolen art work, leave for Germany, from the Paris train station).
Later, team members Richard Campbell (Bill Murray) and Preston Savitz (Bob Balaban), track Stahl down who is disguised as a farmer. Murray and Balaban manage to mine a few laughs as the hapless Stahl is unable to explain away how Rothschild property markings appear on the back of all the paintings he has on the walls of the villa he's staying at. Stahl is then promptly taken into custody.
The film also covers the deaths of two team members who are killed in combat. One of the British members, Donald Jeffries, is killed at a Belgian church, as he attempts to prevent one of the Nazis from stealing the famed Michelangelo statute 'Madonna and Child' (the recovery of that particular piece along with the Van Eyck altarpiece, is the central focus of the film's narrative). A French member, Jean Claude Clermont, is also killed when he's caught in the crossfire of a battle (Clermont is an entirely fictional character as there were no French military personnel assigned to the Monuments Men team).
We shift back again to James Granger who still must convince Simone to provide information on the stolen artwork (she's miffed as she's now being held as a 'collaborator', despite her clear anti-Nazi sentiments). Granger shows her a copy of Hitler's 'Nero Decree' in which he ordered that "all military, transportation, communications, industrial, and food supply facilities" be destroyed. Historically, there was nothing about artwork being destroyed in the decree, but obviously, for dramatic purposes, Mr. Clooney added that in. This convinces Simone to finally help Granger and she provides him with her journal that contains all the names and original property owners of artwork stolen by the Nazis.
By including artwork in the 'Nero Decree', (as mentioned in Slate Magazine), Historian Elizabeth Campbell Karlsgodt points out that this was inserted in order to move the plot forward; the Monuments men are seen "racing against the Germans who are set now to destroy the art if Hitler can't have it." Karlsgodt doesn't even believe that the Monuments Men even knew about the Nero Decree during their mission: "The systematic destruction (as seen in the film) being carried out as a result of the Nero Decree never happened," she says. "Nazis destroyed art that they considered degenerate, like Cubist, Surrealist, Expressionist paintings, and we know that they burned several thousand— at least—paintings that they thought were actually toxic to the German spirit (But) they didn't destroy the art they valued." (This included Germanic art, and the Ghent Altarpiece depicted in the film, which Hitler considered to be an example of "Aryan genius.")
The rest of 'Monuments Men' feels rushed. The team uncovers the 'mother lode' of stolen artwork in a salt mine as well as gold from teeth extracted from Jews sent to the concentration camps. Later they find another mine where the Michelangelo's 'Madonna' is located. The drama is manufactured when they're forced to remove the stolen artwork (including the Madonna) just before the Soviets arrive in the occupation zone designated for them. In reality, the Monuments Men had plenty of time to remove the artwork from the cave—a matter of days and not hours, as depicted in the film.
Clooney gets his last licks in as he interrogates the Nazi colonel responsible for stealing and destroying a good deal of the pilfered artwork. In the case of both Nazis and Monuments Men alike, they're only on for a short time and there's no opportunity for the film's scenarists to develop any of the characters.
Karlsgodt feels that the film's focus on Michelangelo's 'Madonna' and the Ghent Altarpiece undermines the true significance of Hitler's plans and their connection to the Holocaust. Quoted in Slate Magazine, she remarks, "It leaves out a really crucial aspect of this history. Hitler saw it as a key way to seize the assets of Jews. He was not only eliminating Jewish influence, he was also getting their art."