The Monuments Men | |
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Directed by | George Clooney |
Written by |
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Based on | The Monuments Men: Allied heros, Nazi thieves, and the greatest treasure hunt in history 2009 book by Robert M. Edsel with Bret Witter |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Phedon Papamichael |
Edited by | Stephen Mirrione |
Music by | Alexandre Desplat |
Production companies | |
Distributed by |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 118 minutes [1] |
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Language | English |
Budget | $70–91 million [2] [3] |
Box office | $156.4 million [2] |
The Monuments Men is a 2014 war film directed by George Clooney and written and produced by Clooney and Grant Heslov. The film stars an ensemble cast including Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville and Cate Blanchett.
The film is based on the 2007 non-fiction book The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edsel and Bret Witter. It follows an Allied group from the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program that is given the task of finding and saving pieces of art and other culturally important items before Nazis destroy or steal them during World War II. [4] [5]
The Monuments Men was co-produced by Columbia Pictures (in association with 20th Century Fox) and Babelsberg Studio. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $156.4 million worldwide against a $70 million budget.
In 1943, the Allies are making good progress driving back the Axis powers in Italy. Frank Stokes convinces President Roosevelt that victory will have little meaning if the artistic treasures of Western civilization are lost. Stokes is directed to assemble an Army unit nicknamed the "Monuments Men", comprising museum directors, curators, art historians, and an architect, to both guide Allied units and search for stolen art to return it to its rightful owners.
In July 1944, Claire Simone, a curator in occupied France, is forced to assist Nazi officer Viktor Stahl in the theft of art, either for Adolf Hitler's Führermuseum or as personal property of senior commanders such as Hermann Göring. All seems lost when she discovers that Stahl is taking her gallery's contents to Germany as the Allies approach Paris. She runs to the railyard to confront him, but can only watch as he departs aboard the train carrying the cargo.
In the field, Stokes' unit finds its work frustrated by Allied officers who refuse to endanger their troops for the sake of his mission. The unit splits up to cover more ground, with varying degrees of success. James Granger meets Simone, but she refuses to cooperate, suspecting the Americans want to confiscate the stolen art for themselves. British officer Donald Jeffries sneaks into occupied Bruges at night to save Michelangelo's Madonna of Bruges , but is killed in the attempt.
Richard Campbell and Preston Savitz learn that Van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece was removed by the priests of Ghent Cathedral for safekeeping, but their truck was stopped and the panels taken. Eventually, they find and arrest Viktor Stahl, who is hiding as a farmer, when they identify the paintings in his house as masterpieces, at least one stolen from the Rothschild Collection.
In December 1944, Walter Garfield and Jean Claude Clermont get lost in the countryside and blunder into a firefight. Clermont is mortally wounded and dies when Garfield is unable to find medical help. Meanwhile, Simone reconsiders her refusal after Granger shows her the Nero Decree, which orders the destruction of all German possessions if Hitler dies or Germany falls, and she sees him return a painting looted from a Jewish family to its rightful place in their empty home. She provides a comprehensive ledger she has compiled, with valuable information on the stolen art and the rightful owners.
Even as the team learns that the artwork is being stored in various mines and castles, it also learns that it must now compete against the Soviet Union, which is seizing artwork from its occupation zone of Germany as war reparations. Meanwhile, Colonel Wegner is systematically destroying whole art caches. Eventually, the team has some success, as it discovers at least one mine hiding over 16,000 art pieces. In addition, the team captures the entire gold reserves of the Nazi German national treasury.
Finally, as the war ends in May 1945, the team finds a mine in Austria that appears to have been demolished, and the Soviets will be there in hours. Discovering that the entrances were actually blocked by the locals to prevent the Nazis from destroying the contents, the team evacuates as much artwork as possible, including sculptures, the Ghent Altarpiece, and the Madonna and Child, before the Soviets arrive.
Afterwards, Stokes reports back to President Truman that the team has recovered vast quantities of artwork and various other culturally significant items. As he requests to stay in Europe to oversee further searching and restoration, Truman asks Stokes if his efforts were worth the lives of the men he lost. He says they were. Truman then asks if, thirty years from then, anyone will remember that these men died for a piece of art. In the final scene, set in 1977, the elderly Stokes replies "Yeah", while he takes his grandson to see Michelangelo's Bruges Madonna.
A co-production between Columbia Pictures (in association with 20th Century Fox) and Germany's Studio Babelsberg, [6] the film was funded by the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) with €8.5 million, [7] Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg as well as Medien- und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg. [8] [9] Casting was held in February 2013 for thousands of extras for the military scenes. [10] [11]
Principal photography began in early March 2013, at the Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam, Germany, in the Berlin-Brandenburg region, and the Harz. The mines around Bad Grund, particularly the Wiemannsbucht and the Grube Hilfe Gottes, were used in the filming of outdoor scenes. Other outdoor locations were the towns of Lautenthal, Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Goslar, Halberstadt, Merseburg and Osterwieck. Some of the scenes, including flights and American war base footage, were filmed at Imperial War Museum Duxford, Cambridgeshire, UK. [12] [13] A farm in Ashford in Kent was also used. [14] Filming was scheduled to last until the end of June 2013, wrapping up in Rye, East Sussex. [15]
The film was originally set to be released on December 18, 2013, [16] and a trailer was released on August 8, 2013. [17] The release was pushed back to February 2014, because issues balancing humor with the serious nature of the subject matter caused post-production to take longer than expected. [18] [19] [20]
The film was screened on February 7, 2014, at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. [21] [22] It was also screened at UNESCO, on 27 March 2014, on the occasion of the panel discussion "Modern Day Monuments Men and Women" on the preservation of heritage in times of conflict and the fight against the illicit trafficking of cultural property. [23]
The Monuments Men received mixed reviews from film critics. [24] [25] On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 31% approval rating, based on 257 reviews, with an average score of 5.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Its intentions are noble and its cast is impressive, but neither can compensate for The Monuments Men's stiffly nostalgic tone and curiously slack narrative." [26] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 52 out of 100, based on reviews from 43 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [24] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B+" on scale of A to F. [27]
Peter Travers in Rolling Stone gave it three out of four stars, noting that while some of the dialogue and emotions seemed inauthentic, the physical production and cinematography were "exquisite," with shooting done on locations in Germany and England. [28] In comparing the film with contemporary ones, he considered it a "proudly untrendy, uncynical movie," where the story involved people seeking something more valuable than money. He added, "Clooney [as director] feels there's much to be learned from these unsung art warriors...The Monuments Men is a movie about aspiration, about culture at risk, about things worth fighting for. I'd call that timely and well worth a salute." [28] He also wrote that "a tone shift that may leave escapism junkies feeling betrayed." [28]
Richard Roeper from the Chicago Sun-Times called the film an "...engaging, shamelessly corny and entertaining World War II adventure inspired by true events"; he gave it 3 out of 4. [29] Richard Corliss from Time stated that "...[r]ather than juicing each element to blockbuster volume, Clooney has delivered it in the tone of a memorial lecture, warm and ambling, given by one of the distinguished academics he put in his movie." [30]
The film is based on real events, but the names of all characters were changed, and a number of further adjustments were made to the historical facts in the interests of drama. [31] According to Clooney, "80 percent of the story is still completely true and accurate, and almost all of the scenes happened". [32] The accounts of some events were altered to serve the film's dramatic portrayal of the retrieval of these treasures.
During the Nazi period, a huge number of European art treasures pillaged by the Germans had been stored in the Altaussee salt mine near the town of Bad Aussee. In the film, it is stated that 'local miners' had blown up the mine to prevent the contents being destroyed. In 1945 a British Special Operations Executive mission, codenamed Bonzos and led by Albrecht Gaiswinkler, was responsible for saving the looted art stored in Austrian salt mines. These personnel had been parachuted into the Aussee area, where Gaiswinkler raised a force of around 300 men, armed them with captured German weapons, and spent the last weeks and months of the war harassing local German forces. When the Americans arrived, his information helped them capture several prominent Nazis. He and his colleagues had captured the salt mine, prevented the destruction of the artworks held there, and were able to hand over "a number of Nazi treasure hoards, including a good copy of the Mona Lisa [33] (which is subject of debate [34] ) and the Austrian Imperial Crown Jewels". Other artworks rescued included Hubert and Jan van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece . [35] [36] [37] [38] [39]
Nigel Pollard of Swansea University was critical of the lack of historical accuracy, and wrote: "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 organisation 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: five Americans, one British officer, the first to be killed off (Hugh Bonneville), and a Free French officer, marginalising the British role in the establishment of the organisation. This is presented as set up at Clooney's [Stokes'] initiative after the bombing of Monte Cassino (so, after February 1944). In fact, its origins actually went back to British efforts in Libya in 1942, and it already existed (albeit with teething troubles) when the Allies invaded Sicily in July 1943." [40] Historian Alex von Tunzelmann, noted several historical faults and said of the plot: "If you're getting the sense that the film is episodic and poorly structured, unfortunately you'd be right", and "There are far too many characters, so the screenplay splits them up into little groups and sends them off on various errands. Some of these are more exciting than others – but they do not add up to a satisfying plot. A TV series might have been a better vehicle for the "monuments men" stories than a feature film... The story is fascinating, but this film's good intentions are hampered by its lack of pace, direction, tone and properly fleshed-out characters." [41]
George Timothy Clooney is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for his work in both blockbuster and independent films, he has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award and four Golden Globe Awards. His honors include the Cecil B. DeMille Award, the Honorary César, the AFI Life Achievement Award, and the Kennedy Center Honor.
Catherine Élise Blanchett is an Australian actor and film producer. Regarded as one of the best performers of her generation, she is recognized for her versatile work across independent films, blockbusters, and the stage. Blanchett has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, four British Academy Film Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award.
Art theft, sometimes called artnapping, is the stealing of paintings, sculptures, or other forms of visual art from galleries, museums or other public and private locations. Stolen art is often resold or used by criminals as collateral to secure loans. Only a small percentage of stolen art is recovered—an estimated 10%. Many nations operate police squads to investigate art theft and illegal trade in stolen art and antiquities.
Albrecht Gaiswinkler was an Austrian civil servant, social democrat (SPÖ) politician and resistance fighter, who, some believe, saved a copy of the Mona Lisa from destruction in an Austrian salt mine towards the end of World War II.
Ocean's Eleven is a 2001 American heist comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh from a screenplay by Ted Griffin. The first installment in the Ocean's film trilogy, it is a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack film of the same name. The film features an ensemble cast including George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy García, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Casey Affleck, Don Cheadle, Scott Caan, Elliott Gould, Bernie Mac, and Carl Reiner. The story follows friends Danny Ocean (Clooney) and Rusty Ryan (Pitt), who plan a heist of $160 million from casino owner Terry Benedict (García), the lover of Ocean's ex-wife Tess (Roberts).
Rose Antonia Maria Valland was a French art curator, member of the French Resistance, captain in the French military, and one of the most decorated women in French history. She secretly recorded details of the Nazi plundering of National French and private Jewish-owned art from France; and, working with the French Resistance, she saved thousands of works of art.
James Joseph Rorimer, was an American museum curator and former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he was a primary force behind the creation of the Cloisters, a branch of the museum dedicated to the art and architecture of Medieval Europe. During World War II, Rorimer served in the U.S. Army's Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section, a.k.a. the "Monuments Men," protecting cultural sites and recovering stolen art work.
Rescuing Da Vinci is a largely photographic, historical book about art reclamation and preservation during and after World War II, written by American author Robert M. Edsel, published in 2006 by Laurel Publishing.
The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Section Unit (MFAA) was a program established by the Allies in 1943 to help protect cultural property in war areas during and after World War II. The group of about 400 service members and civilians worked with military forces to protect historic and cultural monuments from war damage, and as the conflict came to a close, to find and return works of art and other items of cultural importance that had been stolen by the Nazis or hidden for safekeeping. Spurred by the Roberts Commission, MFAA branches were established within the Civil Affairs and Military Government Sections of Allied armies.
The Monuments Men and Women Foundation, formerly known as the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art, is an American IRS-approved 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, which honors the legacy of those who served in the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program during and after World War II, more commonly known as the Monuments Men and Women. Today, the foundation continues their mission by recovering Nazi looted artworks, documents, and other cultural objects and returning them to their rightful owners. Raising public awareness is essential to the foundation's mission of "Restitution, Education and Preservation".
Robert Morse Edsel is an American businessman and author. He has written three non-fiction books - Rescuing Da Vinci (2006), Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History (2007); and Saving Italy (2013) - chronicling the recovery of artwork stolen by Nazi Germany during World War II. A film based on his book, The Monuments Men, directed by and starring George Clooney, was released in February 2014.
Jean Edmond Dujardin is a French actor and comedian. He began his career as a stand-up comedian in Paris before guest starring in comedic television programmes and films. He first came to prominence with the cult TV series Un gars, une fille (1999–2003), in which he starred alongside his partner Alexandra Lamy, before becoming a popular film actor with comedies such as Brice de Nice (2005), Michel Hazanavicius's OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006), its sequel OSS 117: Lost in Rio (2009), and 99 Francs (2007).
Art theft and looting occurred on a massive scale during World War II. It originated with the policies of the Axis countries, primarily Nazi Germany and Japan, which systematically looted occupied territories. Near the end of the war the Soviet Union, in turn, began looting reclaimed and occupied territories. "The grand scale of looted artwork by the Nazis has resulted in the loss of many pieces being scattered across the world."
Dimitri Leonidas is an English actor, best known for his roles in the films The Monuments Men, and Rosewater and the television series Riviera (2017–2020).
Portrait of a Young Man is a painting by Raphael. It is often thought to be a self-portrait. During the Second World War the painting was stolen by the Nazis from Poland. Many historians regard it as the most important painting missing since World War II.
George Clooney is an American actor and filmmaker. He is one of the highest-grossing actors of all time with over $2.6 billion total box office gross and an average of $61.7 million per film. He has been involved in thirteen films that grossed over $200 million at the worldwide box office.
George Leslie Stout was an American art conservation specialist and museum director who founded the first laboratory in the United States to study art conservation, as well as the first journal on the subject of art conservation. During World War II, he was a member of the U.S. Army unit devoted to recovering art, the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section (MFAA), a.k.a. "The Monuments Men."
Ronald Edmond Balfour was a British medieval historian and a fellow of King's College, Cambridge.
The German Nazi Party looted and stole art, gold and other objects that had been either plundered or moved for safekeeping at various storage sites during World War II. These sites included salt mines at Altaussee and Merkers and a copper mine at Siegen.