"Monuments Men" done right

Rating: 7/10 (7 May 2015)

Set in the late 1990s, "Woman in Gold" is a true-life David-and- Goliath story about a headstrong elderly woman who, essentially, takes on an entire nation in her pursuit of justice.
The woman is 82-year-old Maria Altmann, a native Austrian from a well-to-do Jewish family, who fled with her husband to America to escape Nazi persecution. Now that Maria, who currently resides in Pasadena, is nearing the end of her life, she's decided to try and get back some of the priceless artwork that was confiscated when the Nazis ransacked her family's home, pieces that now reside in various museums around Austria. Even though the country has ostensibly adopted a policy of "restitution" to the Jewish families whose artwork was stolen, the government is actually loath to relinquish its hold on the pieces, which it now considers to be national treasures. Maria, thus, turns to her friend's son, Randol Schoenberg, for help in getting back a series of paintings that once belonged to her family, in particular, one (unofficially referred to as the "'Mona Lisa' of Austria"), a portrait of her beloved aunt who died at a young age in the 1920s. Because the identity of the woman in the painting was unknown for so long, the work became known in the art world as "Woman in Gold."
Schoenberg is a neophyte attorney whose own grandfather perished in a concentration camp. Initially reluctant to become involved with this eccentric old woman and her seemingly hopeless case, Schoenberg, despite having little experience in restoration law, eventually relents and dedicates much of his waking life to seeing that the paintings - and especially "Woman in Gold" - are restored to their rightful owner.
Written by Alexi Kaye Campbell and directed by Simon Curtis, "Woman in Gold" is a legal thriller and an historical drama centered around the burgeoning friendship between two vastly different individuals who likely would never have met or, at least, never connected emotionally under other circumstances. Together, this determined duo triumphs over one bureaucratic setback and one legal hurdle after another on their way to ultimate victory (the case even makes its all the way to the United States Supreme Court). Throughout, the screenplay regularly flashes back to Maria's harrowing experiences living under Nazi rule.
In both format and style, "Woman in Gold" is a fairly conventional "feel-good historical drama," a bit bland and risk-averse, and, as such, it misses the opportunity to really distinguish itself in a major way. But despite the temptation to view it through cynical eyes, I must say that it's awfully hard not to give "Woman in Gold" the benefit of the doubt, partly because the scenes set in the past can't help but be affecting, and partly because Mirren never falls into the trap of becoming the starch, brittle, cranky old-lady stereotype that a lesser actress might have had a much more difficult time avoiding. It's also nice to see Ryan Reynolds taking on a more challenging role than the ones he usually gets to play (his slightly nerdy appearance is an obvious attempt at downplaying his matinée-idol handsomeness and thus generating some gravitas for the character), but he feels slightly overmatched when put up against Mirren (as who wouldn't be?). He has some very good moments, no doubt, but a certain overall callowness in the performance limits its effectiveness and knocks the movie off-balance.
"Woman in Gold" explores some interesting themes, the most notable being whether a victim of something as incomprehensibly horrific as the Holocaust can ever really achieve any kind of peace in this life or whether the wounds simply run too deep to ever really heal. The outcome of Maria's quest provides one answer, while the lovely coda with which Campbell chooses to end his film seems to provide another.
Incidentally, "Woman in Gold" might make an interesting double feature with "The Monuments Men," a lesser movie that, nevertheless, deals with some of the same subject matter as "Woman in Gold." But the latter is the far richer film.