Review of The Monuments Men (2014) by Tim S — 13 Jan 2017

One would think that this is a great premise for a great story and a great film, but the problem is that Monuments Men never gets you really interested in any of the characters. They probably should have focused on one German, one American, and perhaps one French or Belgian. Instead, you have a disjointed plot skipping around Europe and you end up caring very little for any of it. Using big name stars only makes you more separated from the characters, the period of time, and the story itself. It would have been much better if they had used good actors little known to the public, or if they are going to use famous actors, shrink the story down to focus on only a few people and develop those characters more. The Train, a great 1964 movie with Burt Lancaster and Paul Scofield, touched on the same subject and did a lot more with a lot less.

One detail of the movie that really annoyed me was that they made up the character of Preston Savitz, played by Bob Balaban. This character was based on Lincoln Kirstein, who brought George Balanchine to New York from Russia. Together they later established the New York City Ballet after the war. He was a remarkable enough character on his own to warrant a film. It was his vast knowledge of art that led to him and architect Robert Posey (played by Bill Murray) in finding the Ghent Altarpiece-- the central piece of art in the film. Kirstein was very tall and had very strong features-- very different than Bob Balaban. They should have made the entire film revolve around Lincoln Kirstein-- you would have ended up caring about his character they you would have ended up with a much more engaging and satisfying picture.