“The Woman in Gold”

PG-13 for some thematic elements and brief strong language.

I knew about Maria Altmann and her quest for justice from the streaming services of either Netflix or Amazon – Instant Video. I can’t report which because the corporate dunderheads of the guilty party decided to take the documentary out of their library of available titles; for what reason I care not because for them I have, as Shakespeare wrote, “hard favour’d rage” because I wanted to see it again.  For the record, there are three documentaries: “Adele’s Wish,” “Stealing Klimt” and “The Rape of Europe.” Only “The Rape of Europe” is available at present on a streaming service … as far as I can tell.

So, when I heard the movie was going to be made, I was delighted. OK, the bad news: It is Philomena with Austria swapped for Ireland and thieving Nazis swapped for the recalcitrant Catholic Church. And Helen Mirren is not quite Judi Dench … if I may be forgiven to opine.

However, for baddies, the Nazis can’t be bested. And this story is impossible to believe it if was, not for a fact, a fact.

Maria Altmann is (as) the niece — the only surviving (next generation) heir to the Bloch-Bauer family that once owned five Gustav Klimt paintings. Since the family were Austrian Jews, all of their possessions were seized by Nazis when they were forced to flee their native country. She arrived in the United States virtually penniless and started anew, eventually in Los Angeles as a dressmaker.

In her 80s, she read about a case of a Jewish family member laying claim to paintings stolen by the Nazis. She thought of the Klimt painting of her aunt.  A family friend, Eric Randol (Randy) Schoenberg, the grandson of Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg and a refugee from the Nazis, agreed to take on the case, eventually quitting his job and risking his career and livelihood to pursue this quixotic quest for justice. Their opposition was the Austrian government and bureaucracy, the American government, and although not mentioned in the film, much of the museum community; tilting at windmills they were, to be sure. But they prevailed.

The critics are divided about the film, some being rather bitter and nasty about it … and in my opinion idiotic. One critic from an unnamed publication known for reporting on the entertainment industry was so profoundly clumsy, confused, and ignorant, that I wondered how was it this bonehead gets press credentials and I do not.

This is not a great film, but it is a great history story, cinematically far better than “Monuments Men.” Ryan Reynolds is a fine actor but casting him as a member of a well pedigreed Jewish family is a bit of an embarrassment; like passing off a Krispy Kreme donut as a bagel.

Much has been written about how the Austrian characters both past and present are portrayed as evil, active participants in the Nazi seizures. This is simply not true. The film features two characters that were essential to the restitution. The Austrian government has tried to ignore its Nazi past. The Swiss still hide their complicity with stolen Nazi geld. Their yodeling is far more in tune than the Austrians’ polkas. At least, the Austrians yielded and surrendered the Klimts.

This bit of history is fascinating. The painting, now known as The Woman in Gold, is breathtaking and was, as we are told a bit too often in the film, the Mona Lisa of Austria. Ironic that this “Mona Lisa” would have most likely been murdered with the six million other Jews with the able assistance of so many Austrians. “Lost Lives, Lost Art” is another book on the subject; aptly titled when dwelling on this subject.

Interesting note: the crass Nazis had no interest in the Klimts because to them it was degenerate art. The (modern) Austrians were given the opportunity to keep the Klimts if they had just admitted they stole the paintings and paid a fair price. But hubris prevailed in both cases. The Nazis were wrong and the Austrians (involved in the Altmann Case) were fools. It is a lesson for all of us. Justice may come late, but it always comes.

“The Woman in Gold” receives four bow ties out of five.