Review of Woman in Gold (2015) by Bhbarry — 23 Apr 2015

"Woman in Gold" is a film regarding the famous painting by Gustav Klimts, the family that owned it and the niece, Maria Altmann (played by Helen Mirren), who witnessed its theft by the Nazis and her extraordinary efforts to regain it.

This is also the story of her attorney, Randy Schoenberg (played by Ryan Reynolds) and the legal machinations put in Ms. Altmann’s path by a Viennese government dedicated to the retention of its "Mona Lisa", as it colloquially referred to this revered work of art.

More than anything, this film, directed by Simon Curtis and written by Alexi Kaye Campbell, is about justice and those who will give their all to achieve it. Ms. Mirren plays her role with the dignity and dedication that the real life subject no doubt possessed.

The film is engrossing and well paced and one need not be an attorney to follow and understand, the legal niceties it contains. One can talk about millions who were brutalized by the members of the Third Reich but the impact of the crimes they committed becomes even greater when the story is told about one person and one piece of property.

I give the film an 8 for its ability to relate the horror and hopelessness the victims of Nazi tyranny experienced as their dignity, their possessions and, yes, their very lives were taken from them.