by Mary Anne Barker

Special coupon for Dinuba Platinum Theatre at the end of this review.

The Monuments Men starts with Frank Stokes (George Clooney) making a presentation to President Franklin D Roosevelt. A plea to save the art, pictures, sculptures, historic buildings. Near the end of World War II curators, directors and artists were concerned about the art that the Nazi’s had stolen and historic places being destroyed. There is an ongoing debate, one side saying art is not worth dying for and the other saying that this art should be saved. The army especially was “we are taking out church steeples if it will save lives. We will not leave any place for a sniper to take out soldiers”. FDR’s stance was the same but he allowed Stokes to put together a small team to rescue not just art but culture of the western world.

Stokes begins assembling his team, men who were mostly too old to fight in the war. They make these older men go through training with the young guys. When they get to France the six men team split up. The only one that speaks French is sent to Paris, because that’s where a lot of the art had been until the Nazi’s left. In Paris, Frank Granger (Matt Damon) spends a lot of time trying to get Claire Simon (Cate Blanchet) to give him the information that he needs to track where the art has gone. Having been under the Nazi thumb and not trusting that the incoming army would take the stolen art for themselves, she’s not trusting anyone.

There was a fair amount of humor in the beginning of the movie. The last part of the movie was far grimmer, with so much death and destruction. When the team entered one area and asked a soldier where the town was, the soldier said THIS is the town and the only thing around was rubble.

The Allies want to save the art and return it to the owners. Hitler writes the order for the remaining art to be burned rather than have it fall into Allied hand. The Russians are finding and keeping all the art they can get their hands on. So it is a race to save the art.

The Monuments Men is an interesting movie based on a part of the war that is seldom talked about, and it has a well known cast. If you enjoy history, I recommend heading out to see The Monument’s Men.

The Monuments Men is playing at Dinuba Platinum Theatres 6. Showtimes can be found on their website. Platinum Theaters Dinuba 6 now proudly presents digital quality films in 2-D and 3-D with 5.1 Dolby digital surround sound to maximize your movie experience.

Print this coupon and enjoy a special discount for Kings River Life readers only!