Really slow going, at first, but quite captivating by it's conclusion!

Rating: 7/10 (16 April 2015)

'WOMAN IN GOLD': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)
British- American drama flick starring Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds and directed by Simon Curtis (who also directed another historical drama flick: 'MY WEEK WITH MARILYN'). It tells the true story of a Jewish refugee, in her 80s, who battled the Austrian government for nearly a decade; to regain control of famous artwork (especially a painting of her aunt, known as the Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I), which was taken from her family by the Nazis before the war. Mirren plays the Jewish refugee and Reynolds plays the young American lawyer that helped her. The film costars Daniel Bruhl, Katie Holmes, Max Irons, Charles Dance, Jonathan Pryce and Elizabeth McGovern. It was written by Alexi Kaye Campbell and based on the life stories of Maria Altmann and E. Randol Schoenberg. I found the movie to be really slow going, at first, but quite captivating by it's conclusion.
Maria Altmann (Mirren) was a young Jewish woman (played by Tatiana Maslany, in her earlier years) who fled Austria, with her husband Fritz (Irons), as the Nazis were taking it over, right before World War II. Family art, including a painting of Maria's aunt, were seized by the Nazis, shortly later, and after the war the Austrian government took possession of them. The artwork became very valuable and iconic over the years (especially the Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I). Maria decided, while in her 80s, to fight to get them back; due to their sentimental value, and the fact that they rightfully belonged to her. She enlisted the help of a young, and very inexperienced, lawyer named Randol Schoenberg (Reynolds).
The movie is powerfully acted (especially by it's two leads) and decently directed; but the story could have played out in a much more emotionally charged and engaging way. As it is, it takes a long time to really catch the viewer's interest. Once it gets to the meat of the story, though, it's very involving stuff. By the end of the film, I was quite satisfied with it; but I can't dismiss the first 30 to 45 minutes, of rather dull material I had to sit through. It's a decent film but it could have been even better.
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