Movie: Woman in Gold

We’ve seen a film or two on the subject of the Nazis stealing art during the war and people trying to retrieve it, The Monuments Men springs to mind. Nonetheless, it’s good story and a part of history I want to be aware off and this one is quite the personal story.The Women in Gold refers to a painting by Klimt, commissioned by a wealthy Austrian Jewish family. Helen Mirren plays the now mature niece of the lady portrayed and the film illustrates her growing up in a privileged and close-knit family where two brothers and their wives live in a large apartment in Vienna. She escapes the clutches of the Nazis with her husband and the end up in America, joined by her sister. It’s only after her sister dies that Maria Altmann finds paperwork to say that the painting had only been left to the gallery in Vienna with stipulation that happens if there are no living relatives left, remembering this was when WW2 was starting. The Austrian government do not want to give back what is now a national, iconic treasure.As they fail to come to any agreement, widower Mrs Altmann takes them to court, with the help of a young lawyer (Ryan Reynolds), the son of her friend, also a Jewish refugee family.The film has its harrowing moments, particularly during the young couple’s escape when I found myself closing my eyes, despite knowing it’s a true story and they obviously survived to tell the tale!An elegant film, with striking shots of Vienna and with funny and poignant moments aplenty. It reminds us once again how people suffered because of their religion, and of course how they suffer still, today.7½/10Smile factor 8/10