While one of my favorite movies of the past year, KINGSMAN:
THE SECRET SERVICE, hits Redbox this week I thought it was more important to
cover a different movie. Know now that I highly recommend that film (and will
write about it on the blog) but that I felt the more important release this
week is WOMAN IN GOLD. It may not have set box office records but it is a movie
that everyone, especially younger people, should make a point of watching.
Helen Mirren stars in this true story as Maria Altmann, an
American citizen who immigrated to the United States when she left Austria
during World War II. As the film opens it’s the 1990s and Maria is in the midst
of burying her sister who has just passed away. Afterwards she tries to hire
Randol Schoenberg (Ryan Reynolds), the son of a close friend, to represent her
in attempting to retrieve several paintings by the famous artist Klimt that
were taken from her family by the Nazis.
At this time talks were under way to return various pieces
to Austrian citizens who found themselves in this situation. But Maria’s case
is different on several levels. The first is that the main picture she’s trying
to retrieve is a portrait of her aunt which the Austrians now call “Woman in
Gold”. Hailed as representative of their culture they aren’t inclined to allow
it to go back to her. But she struggles to get it back with Randol’s help. On
another level Maria has no concern about the Austrian’s feelings on the matter,
still carrying the pain that came from the treatment she, her family and
friends all received at the hands of fellow Austrians who easily blended in
with the Nazis when they entered the country.
But the story doesn’t just revolve around Maria. Randol was
an attorney who failed on his own who has just taken a position with a major
law firm. With a wife and child and a second child on the way, he cannot afford
to lose his job. While he takes the case and encourages the firm to handle it,
when he gets to Austria and connects with his heritage that was scarred by the
occupation something stirs inside of him. In the end he takes the case on his
own when the firm drops it and him as well.
It would be easy to think that this will be a boring film, a
back and forth courtroom drama that offers little more. If you think that think
again. The film moves easily back and forth between the present and the past,
showing the turmoil that Maria and her family went through both during the
occupation and in her escape from Austria to America. While no visible scars or
beatings are seen, the psychological damage is painfully obvious.
The reaction of the Austrian government to Maria’s pleas is
also quite astounding. Rather than reach an agreement with her to keep the
painting on display they continue to force the issue. Using legal maneuvering
they set it up so that she’ll need millions just to fight in an Austrian court.
But a legal loophole here in the states allows her to sue there, eventually
appearing before the Supreme Court.
The movie is a great drama with some amazing performances.
Mirren, as always, does a wonderful job. But for me the deeper performance came
from Reynolds. As I watched I began to wonder if he couldn’t be considered the
Jimmy Stewart of this generation. Thinking back to previous roles and then
watching him here it was the image that came to mind more often than not as I
watched the movie. The two of them combine to form a combative chemistry that
feels as real as it most probably was.
So why is it so important that people see this movie? In the
film Maria makes a comment to Randol about how young people have no concept of
what happened in the past. While the movie takes place in the 90s I think
that’s an idea that has deep roots in the present as well. To try and talk to
young people today about the Holocaust is to sit and watch eyes roll in
boredom. In not knowing the past they are susceptible for it to repeat itself.
The furthest back they go these days is the 60s with very few references to
either World War or even the Korean War. How they came about, what atrocities
happened during these wars and the sacrifices that were made are things that
every young person should be aware of.
In watching
this movie I found it difficult not to shed a tear or two while considering all
that happened to so many during this war. I found it hard to believe that
people could treat one another the way that they did. And yet it happened. My
generation may be the last to have been able to hear of these things straight
from the mouths of those who lived it. I hope that the current and future
generations don’t ignore it and can learn from it, perhaps just by spending a
little time watching movies like this one.
Click here to order. 
No comments:
Post a Comment