Review
I saw the movie before I read the book, so I thought I knew the story. Well, I knew the underlying theme. But the book has so much more in it than the movie. Yes, the movie has larger-than-life actors doing wonderful things, and lots of action. Well, it all came from the book. It's just all compressed in the movie. The book gives you so much more detail and you understand so much more of the men's frustration and determination to do this job. They have no funding and so not even basic supplies. They are allotted no transportation and just getting to the monuments is a challenge. They have no unit assignments and no one really knows what to do with them. Most commanding officers really don't understand why they are even there.
In the movie, everything is focused on the Madonna of Bruges, as if it is the only one. But in the book, there is another Madonna that touches them more deeply. One that they help to save for the town she protects. While the movie really doesn't deal with what is considered the worst of the German war crimes, the book does go to the work camps and death camps. You tour the camps with the three top American generals. And you wait while Patton is physically sick behind a wall. You read the descriptions of the dead and the survivors who took refuge from the cold under the bodies. You also read how each of the ones responsible are brought to justice for their crimes and hung. Though so many of them evade justice by committing suicide just as their maniacal leader did.
All these dramatics events. The artwork gets returned to the countries of origin. Well, a lot of it did. Then the men drift back from duty and return to the art world. And they really are great men in their fields. But their war story fades from history. They were men who worked singly or in pairs. They had no commanding officer, no unit. No one to carry on telling their story. So they faded from history. When the national museum in Iran is bombed and all the art stolen, there is no precedent to follow. No one had ever heard of the Monuments Men.
The international research for this book took the author and an extensive research team five years to complete.
In the movie, everything is focused on the Madonna of Bruges, as if it is the only one. But in the book, there is another Madonna that touches them more deeply. One that they help to save for the town she protects. While the movie really doesn't deal with what is considered the worst of the German war crimes, the book does go to the work camps and death camps. You tour the camps with the three top American generals. And you wait while Patton is physically sick behind a wall. You read the descriptions of the dead and the survivors who took refuge from the cold under the bodies. You also read how each of the ones responsible are brought to justice for their crimes and hung. Though so many of them evade justice by committing suicide just as their maniacal leader did.
All these dramatics events. The artwork gets returned to the countries of origin. Well, a lot of it did. Then the men drift back from duty and return to the art world. And they really are great men in their fields. But their war story fades from history. They were men who worked singly or in pairs. They had no commanding officer, no unit. No one to carry on telling their story. So they faded from history. When the national museum in Iran is bombed and all the art stolen, there is no precedent to follow. No one had ever heard of the Monuments Men.
The international research for this book took the author and an extensive research team five years to complete.
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