Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Woman in Gold We are accustomed to the words and sights connected with the Nazi inflicted Jewish Holocaust in Europe at the time of World War II. We are not nearly as accustomed to blatant European based anti-Semitic attitudes and actions as it is practiced in this day and age. It is deeply and viscerally shocking. My God, we say, this is the 21st Century! This is not the Middle Ages! We live in an age of wonders and enlightenment. No so to far too many people in modern day Austria. The story of Maria Altmann comes to us from her own words, her own experience. As a young bride in Vienna she and her entire family were held hostage by the Nazis after the so called Anschluss in 1938 and then stripped of their private possessions, including their art works. Anschluss refers to the annexation of Austria into greater Germany, the Germany of the Third Reich. Maria and her husband made it out through Switzerland, England and finally the USA. We enter the movie in 1999. Maria is an octogenarian by this time with a sense that time is moving along. One of the most celebrated (and now valuable) works ripped from Maria's family was a painting of Maria's aunt, Adele Bloch-Bauer. Even today, over 100 years since its 1907 creation, the painting arrests the attention of the viewer. Maris wanted the painting of her aunt returned to her. The authorities in Austria, portrayed in the film as vile, grasping reptiles, intent not upon justice but upon inflicting the last possible defeat and indignity upon an old woman, a Jew. On April 2 of this year a special exhibit opened at the Neue Galarie in New York. Fans of art and justice can see the painting, Adele Bloch-Bauer 1, at their leisure. Helen Mirren (69), surely one of the hardest working actresses of her generation, plays the determined Maria Altman with grit and just the right pinch of soul tiredness. She makes an entirely believable performance. Her co-star is Ryan Reynolds who plays Randol Schoenberg, the struggling young attorney who devotes years of his life to pry Maria's possessions from the hands of the Austrian State. Mirren has 50 credits in the new century including two more films to be released later in 2015 and the delightful “The Hundred Foot Journey” in 2014. She has played the Queen of England three times and received her only Oscar for the “The Queen” in 2006. She does Maria Altmann justice in every frame. Director Simon Curtis is perhaps best known for his 2011 film “My Week With Marilyn” but he has dozens of credits. He directs a very delicate film, the more infuriating because of the tone of restrained civility in the face of outrageous injustice inflicted upon the old woman by the government of Austria. Alexi Kaye Campbell wrote from the original book by Maria Altmann and E. Randol Schoenberg, the lawyer in the case. Also seen in “Woman in Gold” are Katie Holmes and Charles Dance (Game of thrones). Director Simon Curtis cast his wife in a small role as a judge. Curtis is married to Elizabeth McGovern (currently seen as Lady Crawley in Downton Abbey). The film carries a PG-13 rating and lasts for one hour and 39 minutes. If you want to see a film, a true story, about wild injustice and a bravely determined woman who sets out to reverse it, see this one. If you want a film that grown-ups can enjoy, see this one. If you can't bring yourself to see films about purple aliens, flying robots or modern day dinosaurs, come out to see this one. Wonderful films will not be made unless people support them by going out and seeing them. See this one. Four saw blades.