[REVIEW] ‘The Monuments Men’

The Monuments Men is a historical film about an army troop that was recruited to find and recover millions of dollars worth of art that was stolen by the Nazis as they raided Europe during WWII. These men aren’t your typical beefy soldiers, but rather were a hand-picked collection of artists, curators and art historians.

As I entered the theatre and saw a sea of white hair sitting in the audience, I realized that maybe I wasn’t in this film’s target demographic. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the film. It was informative, interesting and funny. The monuments men themselves are an interesting hodgepodge of art nerds and personalities, which allow for some fun exchanges between them.

The movie does move a bit slow as it seemed for the first half of the film, there wasn’t much driving the plot. It took its time to introduce us the gang and present the dilemma, but after a while I started to wonder, “Where is this going?” Once the main conflict was introduced, the film moved speedily along, ending with a nice resolution.

The Monuments Men was interesting and introduced me to a part of WWII history that I never knew about before. I found the film completely fascinating from an art perspective and enjoyed the way the narrative was told. While the film is not equivalent to Michelangelo’s David as far as films go, it still is a venerable piece worth admiring.

★★★