Movie Pick: Monument Men

I figured I'd like Monument Men since it combines two of my passions, art and WWII history; but was surprised how deeply it moved me. George Clooney directs and stars as real life hero Frank Stokes, who persuades FDR to allow him to form of squad of seven fellow art museum directors, curators and historians to enter Europe in the waning days of the war to salvage centuries of European art being plundered by the Nazi's. The aging seven struggle through basic training, pick up arms for the very first time; then set out with regular army support on this audacious and deadly mission. The men realize they are jeopardizing their lives simply for art, and what it represents to a culture being systematically destroyed by pure evil. The movie provides a nuanced answer. Kate Blanchet is haunting and steals the acting chops as a French functionary to an SS officer plundering the art on behalf of Hermann Goering. She's actually tipping off her Resistance fighter brother who's on their joint mission to rescue the purloined art. Jailed after the liberation of Paris, she's revealed a patriot, providing the art's hidden whereabouts to one of the Monument Men, and the race is on to prevent the fleeing Nazis from destroying it or the advancing Russians grabbing it as instant war reparations.

Initial reviews have been pretty hard. Industry Bible, Variety, called it an "exceedingly dull and dreary caper pic" while the New York Times panned Clooney's direction "stolid" and "pandering". Pay no attention to dolts behind the keyboard. Monument Men depicts the best of man amidst the worst in riveting style. A timeless aphorism states: "All things pass, only art endures". To that you can add the corollary: "thanks to the Monument Men".