The movie Monuments Men, written and directed by actor George Clooney was purposed to serve as a historical depiction of one of the grandest art heist known to history. This heist was conducted during World War II by the Nazis, under the leadership of the notorious Adolf Hitler. A special allied military group of men and women was created to save these precious pieces’ art, these brave men and women were known as the Monuments Men. This special group was tasked by then President, Franklin Roosevelt. They were not a regular military group, they were however made up of people from all sorts of backgrounds such as art historians, curators, museum directors, artists, architects, educators, and some military reservists (Flanner 269).
The movie …show more content…
The movie uses fictional characters based off of their real life counterparts. Frank Stokes played by George Clooney himself is based off his real-life counterpart Lieutenant George Leslie Stout. Stout was a veteran of World War I who also later became an art conservationist at Harvard University (Harris). He was among the earliest of those who were advocates for the development of the group. Matt Damon had the role of James Granger who was sent to France to collect useful information. His real life counterpart is James Rormier who worked to expand the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Medieval Collection prior to being drafted into the war in 1943 (Harris). Rormier was not considered to be an official monuments man. His assignment was that of civil affairs that ran the Shrivenham training complex (Edsel & Witter 57). He also was essential in the discovery of the Heilbronn mines that held art pieces from German museums (Harris). Walker Hancock a renowned sculptor was also depicted in the movie as Walter Garfield. Ronald Balfour a British officer was also depicted in this movie as Donald Jefferies. The death of the monuments man was falsely displayed in the movie. In the movie Jefferies was killed trying to save the all famous Madonna of Bruges. However, his real life equivalent Balfour was actually killed along with four German soldiers while trying to evacuate artifacts from …show more content…
A great example of a heroic monuments man was Mason Hammond, who was also not mentioned in the movie. Hammond was appointed to be the “Advisor on Fine Arts and Monuments” (Edsel 41). Hammond had a close encounter with George Stout being that they were colleagues at Harvard University (Edsel 42). Hammond was the first monument officer to be stationed in Italy (Edsel 328). His role as leader within the MFAA group in Italy was successful in that he was a part of discovering tens of thousands of works of art and other cultural objects that the Nazis had stolen during this time (Edsel 329). After his death Hammond was described as being “a man of moral integrity” by those whom he had served with in Italy as well as his family (Edsel
The movie …show more content…
The movie uses fictional characters based off of their real life counterparts. Frank Stokes played by George Clooney himself is based off his real-life counterpart Lieutenant George Leslie Stout. Stout was a veteran of World War I who also later became an art conservationist at Harvard University (Harris). He was among the earliest of those who were advocates for the development of the group. Matt Damon had the role of James Granger who was sent to France to collect useful information. His real life counterpart is James Rormier who worked to expand the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Medieval Collection prior to being drafted into the war in 1943 (Harris). Rormier was not considered to be an official monuments man. His assignment was that of civil affairs that ran the Shrivenham training complex (Edsel & Witter 57). He also was essential in the discovery of the Heilbronn mines that held art pieces from German museums (Harris). Walker Hancock a renowned sculptor was also depicted in the movie as Walter Garfield. Ronald Balfour a British officer was also depicted in this movie as Donald Jefferies. The death of the monuments man was falsely displayed in the movie. In the movie Jefferies was killed trying to save the all famous Madonna of Bruges. However, his real life equivalent Balfour was actually killed along with four German soldiers while trying to evacuate artifacts from …show more content…
A great example of a heroic monuments man was Mason Hammond, who was also not mentioned in the movie. Hammond was appointed to be the “Advisor on Fine Arts and Monuments” (Edsel 41). Hammond had a close encounter with George Stout being that they were colleagues at Harvard University (Edsel 42). Hammond was the first monument officer to be stationed in Italy (Edsel 328). His role as leader within the MFAA group in Italy was successful in that he was a part of discovering tens of thousands of works of art and other cultural objects that the Nazis had stolen during this time (Edsel 329). After his death Hammond was described as being “a man of moral integrity” by those whom he had served with in Italy as well as his family (Edsel