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It’s a shame that The Monuments Men wasn’t a better film. I had such high hopes – a great cast, a story based on amazing historical events, and works of art that have inspired multiple generations.

The movie is George Clooney’s project, one that he starred in, co-wrote and directed. I credit Clooney with wanting to tell this story, one that few people know and everyone should. It’s about art scholars who become soldiers in World War II to save the great art treasures of Europe from the Nazis and destruction. Unfortunately, Clooney failed miserably at telling the story. After seeing it, you’ll believe that seven mostly dour and humorless men went to war to rescue great paintings and sculptures. In fact, about 350 art scholars and historians made up the Monuments Men and Women, and they did save some of the greatest works of art ever created.

Clooney worked with an amazing cast: Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin (Academy Award winner for Best Actor in The Artist), Hugh Bonneville (Lord Grantham on Downton Abbey), and Bob Balaban (a great character actor on everything from Moonrise Kingdom to the TV series Alpha House). With this cast, even a mediocre script should have produced an entertaining movie. However, I wasn’t entertained. I wasn’t inspired. I was mostly bored. I didn’t know if I was supposed to be watching an art film, a comedy, a historical drama, or an action film. George Clooney apparently couldn’t decide either, so he threw in a little bit of everything.

Should you watch The Monument Men? Maybe. If you don’t know anything about the Nazi theft of Europe’s great art, it will give you an overview of what actually happened. You’ll see great works of art like the Ghent Alterpiece and the Bruges Madonna rescued from a salt mine. You’ll see Hermann Goering walk through a room with what seems to be most of the magnificent paintings of the Renaissance, with the camera stopping to focus on images like Da Vinci’s Lady with an Ermine and one of Goya’s many portraits of court aristocracy.

The end credits started off with photographs of the real Monument Men and some of the artwork they saved, which for me was the highlight of the film. However, the credits should never be a film’s high point.

I’ve been privileged to stand before the real Ghent Alterpiece, the Bruges Madonna and Child, and many of the other works of art presented in the film. Millions of others have done the same since the end of World War II. Without the real Monuments Men, the world of art would be far different and sadly lacking. That’s why I wish it had been a better film. The world of art deserves something better.

Reviewed by: Tom Bell on June 28, 2015