Monuments Men (2014)

My viewing of the movie The Monuments Men, particularly its first half, was hampered by two conflicting desires of what it should be. 1) I was aware of the Robert M. Edsel book which inspired it, the story of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program, an Allied effort during World War II to preserve the architectural and artistic treasures of Europe from destruction or theft by the Nazi's, I wanted to hear that story. 2) The story of the Monuments Men reminded me of the 1964 John Frankenheimer film The Train, which is about the efforts of the French resistance to stop a Nazi train filled with stolen art treasures from making it Germany as the Allies descended on Paris, I wanted this movie to be that. Both as 'true history' and as the kind of all star World War II adventure film this country loved to make mid-century, The Monuments Men is kind of wanting, which is not to say it is without its charms.

As history The Monuments Men is very condensed and simplified, historian Nigel Pollard of Swansea University in Wales gave the film 2 out of 5 stars for historical accuracy saying: "There’s a kernel of history there, but The Monuments Men plays fast and loose with it in ways that are probably necessary to make the story work as a film, but the viewer ends up with a fairly confused notion of what the organization Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program (MFAA) was, and what it achieved. The real organisation was never a big one (a few dozen officers at most), but the film reduces it to just seven men to personalise the hunt for the looted art."
(https://www.historyextra.com/period/historian-at-the-movies-the-monuments-men-reviewed/). Historical inaccuracies aside the story is at least intriguing enough that I want to read the book to get the full take and learn how much of the events on screen are true and how much is not.

As World War II film epic the movie certainly channels tropes of that genera, with the team being put together at the beginning, and seeing recognizable stars from Matt Damon to Bob Balaban assembled in period uniform. I liked seeing these people together, and then the film immediately sets them apart, splitting them up into small groups to cover more historical ground, before reteaming them again at the end. While I know this was more historically accurate, on a cinematic level it was somehow less satisfying, their individual adventures were uneven, when they are together it is more fun. There are a number of moments in the film that really work, even if sometimes cloyingly, like the Christmas eve sequence with Bill Murray. There are also a couple of first rate telling off a Nazi sequences, and who doesn't like those? Okay more people then I would have assumed four years ago.

The nostalgic aspects of the movie, not just the period setting but a good deal of the films construction, along with the fact that it is about 'regular' people, who are not action heroes, doing something for the greater good, it's refreshing. Despite its faults, The Monuments Men grew on me, though it should be approached as a starting point, to both real history and some truly great movies, and not as the destination. ***