Last
December when I was seeing one of the latest movie releases I saw a trailer for
a movie that I was instantly sold on seeing just because of the cast. The
trailer included a note that it was based on a book so I decided then that it
would be on of my book to movie comparisons for this year. The book is The
Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in
History written by Robert M. Edsel. The movie version was directed by one
of my favorite actors George Clooney.
Before
I get in to my feelings on the book too much I need to preface it by saying I
am a history buff and always enjoy learning about it. Having said that, I am
not a fan of this book. The book read more like a textbook. There was a story
that it followed for a bit but the majority of the book felt like a history
lesson more than anything. There are a number of men in the Monuments Men group
and the book seemed to jump back and forth between them and time periods so it
was harder to follow along. The history of the war and the art that was stolen
& found was really interesting to learn about but I thought it could have
been presented better if they were looking to tell the story as an adventure.
After
finishing the book I was a bit hesitant about seeing the movie. I was worried
that it would be slow and a bit boring like I found the book to be. Thankfully
the movie was easy to sit through and enjoy. While not the best movie in the
world it kept me entertained throughout and presented art history in a fun way.
The last time I tried to sit through an art history lecture was while touring
my first college. I dozed off about 10 minutes into the 90 minute lecture, it
was a nice nap. The movie was a big draw for me because it featured some of my
favorite actors from George Clooney and Matt Damon to Bill Murray and John
Goodman. the characters played well off of each other and all had some good one
liners.
As
with any movie adapted from a book things get changed around to flow better and
fit better in a Hollywood style. Some of the characters presented in the book
are brought in to play earlier or play a different role altogether. The primary
focus of finding and preserving famous works of art though are the same in both
the book and the movie. The Ghent Altarpiece is regarded as one of the most
important pieces being searched for in both the book as well as the movie. I do
wish the movie would have been a little bit longer because as it got closer to
the conclusion the movie felt a bit rushed and in turn more things from the
book were adjusted to fit within the movie timeline. Overall I prefer the movie
to the book because of how it was presented and the actual pace of it. If I was
more in to art history itself I could see myself preferring the book instead.
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