Watch Monuments Men Online - Movie "The Monuments Men" is a World War 2 story, but it's unlike the traditional World War 2 stories we have become familiar with over the years. Many of the historical touchstones are present, including Normandy and The Battle of the Bulge. Roosevelt, Truman, Hitler, and Goering all make appearances. However, The Monuments Men is more about the aftermath of the war's great moments than the participation in them.
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Watch Monuments Men Online These characters don't join in the bloody fray of D-Day; they arrive sometime after the beach has been taken. They don't fight in The Battle of the Bulge; they show up after the German retreat has begun. People die in The Monuments Men but in offhand ways rather than in the thick of combat.
The unit of eight men is under the command of Frank Stokes (George Clooney), an aging art expert with movie-star good looks. His group, dubbed "The Monuments Men," consists primarily of old historians and professors with a simple goal - save as much of Hitler's stolen art as possible. As the war draws to a close, the Nazis intend to embark upon an orgy of destruction. The Russians want the art as "reparations" for the damage inflected upon their country. The Western allies, however, intend to reclaim it and restore it to those from whom it was stolen. The seven men serving under Stokes include three grizzled Yanks - Richard Campbell (Bill Murray), Walter Garfield (John Goodman), and Preston Savitz (Bob Balaban) - looking to do their part in the war effort; Donald Jeffries (Hugh Bonneville), a Brit searching for redemption; Jean Claude Clermont (Jean Dujardin), a Frenchman in exile; and the younger James Granger (Matt Damon) and Sam Epstein (Dimitri Leonidas). Once in Europe, they split into teams to go in search of the missing treasure then, when they locate promising leads, reunite to pursue them. For the most part, they follow in the wake of the advancing army - near but never at the front.
There are several significant plot-related problems with The Monuments Men. The episodic nature of the story disallows any sort of narrative momentum to build. There's a lot of switching back and forth between the teams but too little time is spent with any of them for the characters to grow and the story to cohere. In many cases, I didn't know the characters' names - I identified them by the actors playing them. It's a bad sign when the film doesn't draw you in sufficiently for stars like George Clooney, Matt Damon, and Cate Blanchett (who plays an art curator and member of the French Resistance) to disappear into their characters. And it's a definite problem when you think of Donald Jeffries as "the guy from Downton Abbey" or Jean Claude Clermont as "the guy who won an Oscar for The Artist." Most of the characters get A Big Moment but not much beyond that. The movie, which runs a hair under two hours, feels like it needs at least another hour to reach critical mass. I wonder how much was left on the cutting room floor.
With talent like this in front of the camera, it can't be all bad. The cast brings 17 Oscar nominations and five wins (with a sixth likely pending) to the party and there's not an inauthentic performance to be found. The most stirring moment is provided by Bill Murray as, while taking a shower, he hears the voice of his daughter singing a Christmas carol. It's a lovely, moving scene - the kind of thing The Monuments Men needs more of. The film also looks great. Not only does it effectively capture the look of wartime Europe, but it reflects the feel of some of the war films made during the 1960s and 1970s.
Certainly, the story told by The Monuments Men is worth telling and it's easy to see why a luminary like Clooney would be sufficiently attracted to want to direct it. Unfortunately, this treatment, written by Clooney and long-time collaborator Grant Heslov, isn't the best fit. One gets the sense that The Monuments Men might work better as a longer form project. There's simply too much going on to cram into two hours and the end result is a feeling that pieces of the tale are being skipped while others are rushed through. The movie does a good job of illustrating why protecting art from the Nazi scourge was important but it's far less effective fleshing out the personalities of the people who did the protecting.
When President Franklin D. Roosevelt approves a proposal by art historian Lt. Frank Stokes (Clooney) – who served in WWI to form a task force to rescue the 1000s of cultural art at risk, the journey is on. Stokes (portraying the real art historian George Stout) recruits his team, an eclectic group who agree to go into war zones to recover these treasures, really have no idea what they are facing.
It was while reading the book by Robert M Edsel and Bret Witter that Clooney’s producing partner, Grant Heslov, suggested this be their next feature film. Clooney saw this as way to recapture some of Hollywood’s more focused era and reveal this incredible operation.
There’s a certain romance around these movies – The Great Escape, The Dirty Dozen, The Guns of Navarone, The Bridge on the River Kwai,” Clooney said. “In those movies, you fell in love with the characters and the actors as much as the story. And we thought The Monuments Men was a great chance to cast interesting contemporary actors together for our version of that kind of movie – it’s a fun and entertaining way to do it.”
Although the motley crew goes through a short military training, they are somewhat taken aback when they reach the war zones. However each man puts everything they have on the line to fulfill this assignment – even their own life if need be.
The cast couldn’t be better. Matt Damon plays James Granger (inspired by James Rorimer, who later became director of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art). Bill Murray plays architect Richard Campbell inspired by Robert Posey who while embedded with Patton’s Third Army during the war, discovered the salt mine at Altaussee where the Nazis had stashed the Ghent Altarpiece and the Bruges Madonna, among many other treasures.
John Goodman plays Walter Garfield, inspired by the real-life Monuments Man Walker Hancock, a renowned sculptor.Jean Dujardin takes on the role ofJean Claude Clermont, a French Jew who is an art dealer in Marseilles. “Downton Abbey’s” Hugh Bonneville steps in to portray Donald Jeffries, a flawed man seeking a second chance.
Bob Balaban takes on the role of Preston Savitz. “Savitz is an intellectual, an art historian and a theatrical impresario,” Savitz is inspired by Monuments Man Lincoln Kirstein, an American impresario, art connoisseur, author, and a major cultural figure in New York who co-founded the New York City Ballet. The last Monuments Man is Sam Epstein, played by Dimitri Leonidas. Epstein, not quite 19, is the only real soldier in the group. He’s been recruited for his ability to drive and to speak German. The inspiration for Leonidas’s character is Harry Ettlinger.
While on assignment Granger meets Claire Simone (Cate Blanchett), inspired by real life Rose Valland, an employee of the Jeu de Paume gallery in Paris. Never approving the removal of the treasures, she kept thorough records of where many of the famous paintings or sculptures were sent to. Blanchett is easily believable as Claire, even getting a little flirtatious with Granger who is kind but does not jeopardize his marriage.
In addition to learning just how many items the Germans confiscated and destroyed, there are some very touching scenes that really emphasize what these men sacrificed. One is in a camp where Campbell has just stepped into a rigged shower. The men had received some packages and his was a homemade CD from his family. While he went to the shower, Savitz puts it on the camp PA system. Water streams down Campbell’s face as he listens to the words of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.” Murray’s exceptional facial expressions in the next few moments somberly portray deep sadness, inquiry, and introspection all at the same time. It’s a moment the audience gets right in the heart.
In another scene, Stokes is addressing his men with a poignant speech, that for me, made the entire film worth seeing. “You can wipe out an entire generation, burn their homes to the ground and somehow they will find their way back. But if you destroy their history, their achievements, it’s as if they never existed,” Stokes says.