THE MONUMENTS MEN

 Historical drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS

George Clooney: Harvard museum curator Frank Stokes

Matt Damon: art restorer James Granger

Bill Murray: architect Richard Campbell

John Goodman: sculptor Walter Garfield

Jean Dujardin: French art dealer Jean-Claude Clermont

Bob Galaban: theatrical producer Preston Savitz

Hugh Bonneville: painting teacher Donald Jefferies

Cate Blanchett: French art expert Claire Simone

REVIEW

Probably the greatest treasure hunt in history, the film tells the story of a little-know unit during World War II. With great attention to detail (except for a few exceptions noted below) it captures the look and feel of wartime Europe.

Although there is a lot of switching back and forth between the teams it’s not too difficult to follow their efforts to find the stolen art treasures. The acting is uniformly good (as you would expect from this A-list of actors) and the odd amusing moment is a welcome relief.

CLASSIFICATION

 for violence, mature themes, smoking.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY

• The architectural model in the movie is not the Fuhrer Museum; it is the Volkshalle another of Hitler’s grand monumental projects to be constructed after the war.
• Claire has James over for dinner and the bottle of wine is three quarters full yet she says “we’re out of wind, would you like a cognac?”
• Walter receives a 45 rpm record which he then plays; trouble is, this format of records was not available until 1949, four years after these events took place.

P.S.

The Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives program was established by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943. Known as the Monuments Men the group of 345 men and women (not 7 men) from 13 countries (not 3) were tasked with the job of protecting cultural treasures as best they could.