Monumental

Today, even though it was Memorial Day, I had to work my normal shift at the mall Customer Service desk.  Afterwards I was going to meet Hubby Tony at a Greek Festival, but the "chance of rain" the weatherman predicted began falling right as I got on the highway.  We changed our plans and I headed home.  After I changed my clothes we talked about our days, watched a little Cardinals baseball, then went to a nearby Pakistani cafe for gyro plates.  When we got home it was time for the main activity of the night.

 Over the weekend Tony and I watched several war movies that were part of a Memorial Day marathon on Turner Classic Movies.  Thanks to Redbox tonight we saw another one, The Monuments Men, a movie based on the true story of a great art treasure hunt at the end of World War II.

The movie, which is loosely based on a book called  The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edsel, follows seven people who were assigned the task of rescuing as much artwork from the Nazis as they could.  In actuality there were about 350 men and women (from thirteen different nations) who worked together to protect the cultural treasures of Europe.  They tracked, located, and returned more than five million artistic and cultural items stolen by Hitler and the Nazis.

I found it interesting that the movie had a local connection, Walter Kirtland Hancock, who was a sculptor and St. Louis native.  In the movie his character was Sgt. Walter Garfield, played by John Goodman (another St. Louis native).

If you get a chance to see this movie, I'd highly recommend it.

Five years ago today: Director Discourse