Professor Popinjay's Compendium of Perspicacity

A Non-review by Professor Popinjay

(2014)

George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, and John Goodman. No this is not a crossover of Ocean’s 11, Ghostbusters, and O Brother Where Art Thou… amazing as that would be.

No, this is a real life Indiana Jones film but with fewer cgi gophers.

George and his wacky pals form a team who take it upon themselves to salvage historical art pieces obtained and hidden by the Nazis during WWII. This quest takes them all throughout beautiful (but sadly war torn) Germany, even the majestic Neuschwanstein castle, and into some very harrowing situations.

One big conundrum that permeates the film is also one I appreciate them dealing with. When millions of lives are lost and/or at stake, how can any effort to salvage art be justified?

Let me start off by saying I believe it’s evident in the film that these fellows would have traded every last piece of art they salvaged to get back the lives lost. No question.

But the war was coming to an end and the Nazi army was in the desperate throes of defeat which translated into them burning the towns they occupied, destroying evidence of their war crimes, and immolating their “spoils”. In this case “spoils” included the art they had stolen. STOLEN!

Sorry, just like to drive that point home.

Hitler wasn’t simply collecting artifacts. We’re talking about a man who initiated book burning. He was expunging history and culture so as to rewrite it the way he saw fit, piece of shit that he was.

I believe the jibbering idiot understood how intrinsically connected art was not only to the artists who created it but to the culture and ideals at the time said art was inspired, ideals that have shaped modern society for better or worse. Either way, it’s valid. That’s why it was a threat to Adoofus Hitler.

A bitter sweet conclusion is mentioned in the film: the Nazis took better care of art than they did people. A sad fact. With all this art in Nazi possession, Hitler could say “Look at what is ours now. Clearly, we are the master race.” and holding our culture for ransom amid his imminent downfall was his final tantrum.

I believe it was and IS of the utmost importance, in spite of all that had already befallen the human race because of this pervasive evil, that every effort be made to prevent a bully’s last ditch effort to twist the knife. Our art belongs to everyone, not just Nazis to use as a bargaining chip.

This sentiment is perfectly exemplified by a scene involving Matt Damon’s character, Lieutenant James Granger. While inspecting a warehouse full of furniture and personal items once belonging to Jewish families, he comes across a painting of an older woman. It was not a classical painting. It was a portrait of no one of particular import to most. She was just important to a select few. This was a cherished portrait of someone’s grandmother, mother, sister, wife. She was loved enough to have remembrance of her displayed prominently on someone’s wall. Lieutenant Granger’s mission was to restore art to its rightful place. He saw no better place to begin than with this portrait. The people who cherished this painting would likely not be seeing it again. Nevertheless, with great regard, Granger returned the portrait to its obvious place in the same small (now vacant) flat where it once hung. Granger understood, to someone, this small piece of art was just as important (if not more so) as Michaelangelo’s “Madonna of Bruges” and it deserved the same reverence.

I am myself an artist. I make no pretense as to my talent in comparison to the skills of anyone else using the same or any other medium, be it writing, athleticism, teaching, or what have you. I simply create to a degree that satisfies me only. But such that it is, I still see my art, my writing, and the raising of my children as my legacy. One day perhaps my children will want to remember me. I hope they will find me in the silly words I wrote, in the silly drawings I drew, and in their capacity to love and care for people and defend others from narcissistic infantile tyrants who would seek to squelch humanity.

“Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,

Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,

Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)

Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,

Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,

Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,

The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

                                       Answer.

That you are here—that life exists and identity,

That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.”

Powerful words by Walt Whitman. Don’t discredit your art, whatever your medium. It’s your legacy. It’s the legacy of the human race. It is our humanity.

Dang good movie.