Between 1945 and 1951, nearly 5 million works of art and other cultural objects stolen by the Nazis have been found and returned by Monuments men and women. According to HuffPost Entertainment, the author of the book on which the movie is based, Mr Robert Edsel said that there are still thousands of these objects and works of art that are missing. Some of them were taken by soldiers as souvenirs.
This is the first time in history someone has asked the audience’s help to locate and return these items. The campaign is being supported by Robert Edsel, the author, Grant Heslov, co-writer and Sony and the campaign is currently featured on SupportTheMonumentsMen.com, the campaign’s official website. In 2012, director, producer and actor George Clooney decided to turn Robert Edsel’s book, “The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History,” into a movie. His plan was to make a film that would be fun to watch and will have something interesting to say, said Clooney.
The list of actors includes Clooney, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, John Goodman, Bill Murray, Jean Dujardin and Bob Balaban.
Edsel said it was wonderful working on this project with Clooney and Grant and that they were very interested in hearing his opinion and recommendations on the story throughout the filming. Although they didn’t always agree, they did listen to everything he had to say. Edsel was welcomed on the set where he work with his own team of researchers to learn more about these men and women who saved some of the most precious works of art in the history, The Huffington Post reports.
On the SupportTheMonumentsMen.com online campaign, people will be able to sign a virtual petition to support the Monuments Men’s initiative to protect these great and priceless works of art by encouraging the members of Congress to award the Monuments Men with the Congressional Gold Medal. “There will always be conflicts; I hope that our president will state, as did President Roosevelt and General Eisenhower, that the United States will always respect the cultural property of other nations, even in times of conflict. That was good foreign policy then; it will serve us well today and in the future,” wrote Edsel.
The author hopes that the audience will understand the importance of these acts, the hard work the Monuments Men put into finding and saving these works of art and that they will support and take this opportunity to consider one question: ‘Is art worth a life?’
“The Monuments Men” will be released in cinemas on Feb. 7, 2014.