The Monuments Men

Rating: 5/10 (18 October 2014)

I heard about this wartime film a good amount during its cinema release, I was definitely going to watch it at some point because of the all-star cast, I ignored low critic ratings, directed by George Clooney (Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Good Night, and Good Luck.). Based on a true story, set in 1943 during World War II, victory may be close against the Nazis, but Lt. Frank Stokes (George Clooney) hears that Hitler is stealing all of the great works of art for his personal Führermuseum in Linz, he convinces U.S. President Roosevelt that victory will be meaningless if art treasures of Western civilisation are lost in the fighting. Stokes is directed to assemble an Army unit nicknamed the "Monuments Men" comprising museum directors, curators and art historians to search for stolen art and return it to the rightful owners. Stokes recruits Lt. James Granger (Matt Damon), Sgt. Richard Campbell (Bill Murray), Sgt. Walter Garfield (John Goodman), British Lt. Donald Jeffries (Downton Abbey's Hugh Bonneville), French Lt. Jean Claude Clermont (The Artist's Jean Dujardin) and Pvt. Preston Savitz (Friends' Bob Balaban), all of whom work together going behind enemy lines to retrieve the stolen art before it is lost or destroyed. The unit split in certain missions and have varied success together and individually, this includes Granger in occupied France in Paris getting help from curator Claire Simone (Cate Blanchett), but tragedy befalls the group when Jeffries is killed trying to prevent the theft of the Madonna and Child by Michelangelo, and again later when Clermont is mortally wounded during a patrol. However the team never give up hope that they will find and save many influential and important paintings and sculptures, one of the most successful finds is in an abandoned mine filled with over 16,000 art pieces and gold assets, in the end Stokes reports to the President that vast quantities of artworks and culturally significant items are recovered, he requests further searching and restoration in Europe, and the memory of this success seems to have remained in thirty years in 1977 where the elderly Stokes (Nick Clooney) visits appreciated art pieces that were found. Also starring Dimitri Leonidas as Sam Epstein, Sam Hazeldine as Colonel Langton, Miles Jupp as Major Feilding, Alexandre Desplat as Emile, Grant Heslov as Doctor and Christian Rodska as President Truman. The all-star cast members all do their parts very well, even the underused, and despite maybe some tiny glitches the story is inspiring at the right moments, as well as being interesting, funny and dramatic, I will agree any romantic element between Blanchett and Damon is forgettable, and it is hard to keep in parts, but overall I personally liked it, a likable Second World War comedy drama. Worth watching!