The Monuments Men – DVD review

George Clooney, 2014

Fox

A crack team is assembled to take on the Nazis – no, not to fight them but to recover the art they’ve looted across war-torn Europe. It is a mission heavy with portent: “If you destroy a people’s history, it’s like they never existed,” team leader George Clooney intones. Trouble is, this seriousness is hard to buy into thanks to the fact that the whole enterprise is cast as a buddy-movie caper. And although Europe produced the art that needs saving, an incessant “America saves the day” soundtrack leaves no doubt whom we’re meant to see as the heroes.