Written by Alexi Kaye Campbell based on the life story of E. Randol Shoenberg and Maria Altmann
Starring Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, Danil Brühl and Tatiana Maslany
Based on the true story of Maria Altmann, an octogenarian Jewish refugee, takes on the Austrian government to recover artwork she believes rightfully belongs to her family.
The inspiring true story of the emotional impact that the holocaust still has fifty years after the fact and the attempt to regain what was stolen from her family by the Nazis, this is a story you don't often hear regarding World War II.
The vast scale of work that is art restitution was lightly touched by the 2014 film "The Monuments Men", but didn't have the emotional impact that this film had. "Woman in Gold" captures what inanimate objects can mean to humans simply based on the history with the people we love. It also captures how infuriatingly tedious and unjust the so-called "justice" system can be.
What seems like an open and shut case can be drawn out and be pushed onward ever so slowly simply because of the stubbornness of a few people, who, other than monetary gain, have no connection to the object whatsoever.
Using flashbacks of Nazi-occupied Vienna, this movie does a great job of breaking down the case at hand, and showing the audience what happened to the Bloch family as well as countless other Jewish families during World War II. To see not only the lives destroyed, but also the objects with intimate memories of their loved ones stolen by a hateful government and claimed to be owned by the state is heartbreaking.
This is truly an inspiring and heartwarming piece that shows almost equally the evil and the good that man can do. Sprinkled with light hearted humor and very charming characters, "Woman in Gold" is a film that I feel can touch the lives of everyone.
My Rating: 7.5/10
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