After watching The Monuments Men (2014), you might think it interesting but boring.  Huh, you might say to yourself, I did not know that, before deleting it from your memory and resuming your consumption of some other form of entertainment.  I could not blame you.  Narratively speaking, it is a mess.  However, instead of also denouncing you for your lack of care about history, I would instead point to recent world events to underscore why this film has importance despite its flaws.  One of Russian president Vladmir Putin’s aims in invading Ukraine is to reunite what he and others in his outlaw regime tell themselves is basically an extension of mother Russia.  Clearly, the Ukrainians are not keen on this idea, so he must invent the wild story that Ukraine is full of Nazis.  This claim, while historically fascinating, can be largely ignored as lunacy.  It is the assertion that Ukraine is not meant to be separate from Russia that is more pertinent to today’s film.  One of the points made in it is that, like what the real Nazis of Germany attempted to do, erasing another country or people’s culture is the only sure way of destroying them.  Culture is the bedrock of civilization and whatever it is you make of this movie, it at least gets this right.

My Catholic heart was moved early in The Monuments Men when you see a group of priests attempting to smuggle an altar piece out of a church in the early stages of World War II.  Though their endeavor is later shown to be fruitless since it still ends up in the hands of the Germans, it sets the stage for the efforts of Lieutenant Frank Stokes (George Clooney).  He alerts the American government to what members of the German high command, like Hermann Goering (Udo Kroschwald), are doing, namely stealing priceless pieces of art from around Europe.  We know about Goering because we see him visit Viktor Stahl (Justus von Dohnányi), a Nazi officer overseeing the confiscation of Parisian art.  He has a French secretary, Claire Simone (Cate Blanchett), who observes these activities and secretly records everything she sees happening.  Unfortunately for her, her duties bring her the label of a collaborator, despite a connection to the French Resistance, and she is eventually imprisoned.  Before you get to all this, Lieutenant Stokes receives a commission to gather a group of artistically inclined men to go to Europe and retrieve that which Hitler’s regime is taking.  You have to forgive me for jumping around with my explanation.  There is not a lot of structure in the film, and it gets worse once the title team is assembled.  As I usually do with ensemble casts, I will introduce the characters as needed.  Also, prior to them crossing the Atlantic to start their mission, they must go through basic training.  This brings up another problem: this is more of a World War II movie that incorporates the search for art rather than the desire to retrieve valuable pieces set against the backdrop of the conflict.  At any rate, as soon as they step foot in France, they split up into a few two-man teams, looking to go to any place they deem to be of artistic and historical significance.  What semblance of a plot there is here is given a jolt when the team’s resident Englishman, 2^nd Lieutenant Donald Jeffries (Hugh Bonneville), is killed while attempting to save a Michelangelo sculpture from a church in Bruges, Belgium.  His death serves as a sort of rallying cry for the others to not only continue their work, but specifically to retrieve 2^nd Lieutenant Jeffries beloved Madonna.  I did say “semblance,” though, as it jumps around to the work of the others as they risk their lives in other parts of the active warzone.  One member of their group who does not seem to be in much danger, and is given a larger portion of the camera time, is Lieutenant James Granger (Matt Damon).  He is sent ahead to Paris, arriving not long after it is liberated by the Allies.  While there, he soon learns about Claire and her imprisonment.  He sees her as a key source of information as to the location of many pieces seized by the Nazis, and thus arranges for her release.  While she is aware of the pieces’ destination, she initially does not trust the American officer, believing that his government wants to find them and bring them all back to the United States.  Thus, while she remains hesitant to discuss these things, the rest push on into Germany.  A key breakthrough comes when they find a German map of Western Europe, with different locations highlighted on it.  It is their German speaking driver, Private Sam Epstein (Dimitri Leonidas), who recognizes them as mines, making them ideal locations in which to find enormous caches of art confiscated by the Nazis.  At one point, they also find a horde of gold, which naturally gets a great deal of attention from the media.  As the news of their work comes out, eventually Claire relents and discusses what she knows with Lieutenant Granger.  With this knowledge, he finally joins the rest in going to the Bavarian castle where they locate a large quantity of pilfered sculptures.  Not among their number is the Michelangelo.  The title team is now getting worried that they might never be able to honor their fallen comrade until they come across one last mine.  This is after the war has concluded, and zones of occupation in Germany are still being settled.  I say this because this area is due to be covered by the Soviet Union, who have their own set of men doing the kinds of things Claire feared.  At the last possible moment, they find the statue of Mary and Child, and this seems to validate all their efforts as the film ends.

My apologies if you read this review of The Monuments Men with some frustration because you are familiar with it.  As I said, there is not much of a discernible thread on which to hang a description of the events.  For example, the altar piece mentioned at the beginning is another item that drove the team.  Yet, while it is a prominent figure in the beginning, it is barely mentioned again until the final fifteen minutes.  Nonetheless, seeing it and the Michelangelo piece, not to mention a great deal of other religious art, speaks to something fundamental about Western culture as it relates to Christianity.  Do not take this Catholic’s word for it.  It is said by Lieutenant Stokes at the beginning of the film that these cultural icons are not only defining for the Catholic Church, but foundational for our civilization.  If they were to be lost, he asserts, we would lose our identity.  There is a lot to unpack in these statements.  First, they speak to an inescapable truth that the Catholic Church is largely responsible for giving us the art with which so many are familiar.  This includes the two specific pieces mentioned in the previous paragraph.  They were created in order to elevate our thoughts to God, and inspired the continued development of culture.  By extension, if they had been allowed to fall into the hands of evil, with the stated Nazi goal of replacing them with the swastika, then it is God who they are trying to destroy.  Put differently, we need God in order to maintain our collective soul, though I do not mean that in a “New Age” manner.  God is in all of us, whether or not we acknowledge Him.  Though this movie could have been done better, it underscores this fact and thus has value.

As I alluded to earlier, I see parallels with what you see in The Monuments Men and what Russia intends with Ukraine.  A similar argument can be made for the current conflict in Israel, though it is Hamas who has been clearer about their desire to annihilate Jewish culture.  A kibbutz is not a Michelangelo, but it has just as much significance to the people who died in it.  I get that this movie might not be the most exciting piece of cinema, but it is an interesting watch in light of recent global events.