Is The Monuments Men Movie an Actual Account of Events?

For historical value this movie doesn't portray the actual events, but what it does is bring to light that historical pieces of art were stolen by the Nazis from their rightful owners during WWII.  It lets us know that a young woman kept track of the paintings and sculptures and who the owners were - this is true and this is why I liked this movie. 

The Monuments Men movie has drawn attention to something that happened during WWII that most people didn't know about.  There were actual people involved (many more than depicted in the movie) in going to Europe to save historical buildings (saving the art was not the job they were sent to do, but a by-product).

The names of some of the characters in the movie were changed from the actual figures that were involved.  There were also some characters added who didn't participate in saving the buildings.

Here are some things I do know and didn't know before is that the Madonna of Bruges sculpture by Michelangelo and the Ghent Altapiece by Flemish artist, Jan Van Eyck's were recovered from the Altaussee mines in Austria.  Works by da Vinci, Rembrandt and Vermeer were recovered and 5 million stolen items were eventually returned to their owners.  However, thousands more and even millions more still have not been found.

Madonna of Bruges



Ghent Altapiece by Flemish artist Jan Van Eyck's

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                     

 

 

 

 Below are sites where you can find factual information about this enterprise:

 

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/02/10/the_monuments_men_true_story_fact_checking_the_george_clooney_matt_damon.html and http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2559571/George-Clooney-opens-new-film-The-Monuments-Men.html

Also, read The Monuments Men:  Allied Heroes by Robert M. Edsel, which was used to help write the screen script for the movie.

I'm not a movie critic, and I'm not going to slam a movie for taking liberties with the facts.  After all, they are in the business of movie making and want to sell tickets.  I enjoyed the movie, and I was glad to be made aware of some of the things going on near the end of the war having nothing to do with war.  These people were still in danger and two did die, and maybe even more we don't know about. 

Seeing the movie will not hurt anyone, unless they believe it's totally factual, but I still believe people should see it. After seeing it I recommend reading the book by Edsel and the sites above for the facts. 

Happy President's Day!  See you next Sunday!

Sandra K. Marshall

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