Hollywood needs more movies about heroes

Rating: 6/10 (8 April 2015)

The Monuments Men is a 2014 American-German film directed by George Clooney, written and produced by Clooney and Grant Heslov, and starring Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, and Cate Blanchett. Based on the non-fiction book, a 500 or so page tome entitled The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edsel, the film relates the true story of a motley group of aging art experts tasked with finding and saving pieces of art and other culturally important items before their destruction by Hitler and the Nazis during the waning days of World War II.
Originally scheduled to be released in December of 2013, the film appeared on American screens in early February 2014 several weeks before the Oscars were handed out for excellence in Hollywood movie making for the preceding year. The selection of films and performances presented for consideration from 2013 had few heroes. We had stories about a bunch of Somali pirates, a corrupt Wall Street swindler, a dysfunctional family in Oklahoma, a Texas hustler who profited from importing AIDS medications, another sad tale of slavery, and a spinster trying to sell her tales to Walt Disney.
George Clooney is to be praised for bringing the story of a few aging "art warriors" to the big screen. The Monuments Men tried to preserve Europe's cultural history by volunteering to find about five million pieces of artwork stolen by the Nazis from wealthy Jews, museums, universities and churches before they were destroyed. It's a heroic adventure, the largest treasure hunt ever conceived. And a true story about some of the men and women from 13 countries who gave their time, talent, and effort for this worthwhile cause. Over 6,500 paintings were found at the salt mines in Altaussee, Austria. Gold bullion and 400 paintings from Berlin vaults were found in the copper mines in Merkers, Germany. Entire valuable private collections of wealthy Frenchmen were found at Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany. Important works such as the "Madonna of Bruges" by Michelangelo and Van Eyck's medieval Ghent altarpiece were salvaged.
Interestingly, The Monuments Men is not a war movie: it's Saving Mr. Rembrandt not Saving Private Ryan. And it's not really a humor-in-the-time-of-war film like Mash nor a comedic-drama like Oceans Eleven although Clooney plays a Harvard art restorer who gathers his "buds" for the adventure and some fun. It's a profound bit of historical and biographical drama. And it's about heroes.
Hollywood needs more movies about heroes.