Brings reality to a strange historical episode

Rating: 10/10 (2 May 2016)

Diane and I watched this superb film last night on CD; we both thought that it was meaningful and brought an interesting perspective on a situation that we knew about but had not seen it take shape as a film. This film brought substance to situations large and small that confront people on both sides of the political/social spectrum. Even the two of us living on the edge of the cultural world, have heard stories of the concern felt by people inhabiting dwellings throughout Western Europe who see cars moving slowly past their homes wondering if they lived in the home previously owned by Jews; the people in the car were their relatives and perhaps wanted it back. There are a huge number of stories that revolve around these circumstances, not just concerning houses but artefacts such as this movie define so well.
This was a true story involving a very famous painting and the role played by Mirren and Reynolds was virtually perfect. Her role was enacted superbly in that she conveyed that anguish of not: wanting to return to Vienna, wishing to force an issue regarding the ownership of the painting and confronting old memories that had long-since been mentally buried.
The script revolves around her attempt to access the painting and as such she is involved in myriad court cases in America as well as Austria. Reynolds is the lawyer that handles her case; the film also revolves around the legalism of her attempts to regain the picture. Therefore, the film has these two sides: the legal and the emotional/historic.
I believe the Director did a marvellous job of taking the plot back to the original characters, as of 1938, when Anschluss joined Hitler's Germany to Austria. It was a very good technique in that the viewer could get some idea of the time period when all of this activity took place. Everything about this film is without error and extremely timely and therefore should be sought out and viewed.