7/21/10

The Rape of Europa


This utterly fascinating documentary was recommended to me by a Seattle International Film Festival member, although it took me almost a year to obtain it from the library. As soon as I viewed it, I ordered my own copy and now I loan it to friends on a regular basis; it is riveting!

The "Rape" in the title is actually twofold: The first is the shameless plundering of art from all over Europe by Nazi Germany; the second is the struggle by the Allies to win the war without inflicting any further damage to the treasure troves in French, Italian, Dutch, Belgian, German, Austrian and Russian cities, churches and museums.

As we watch the gargantuan tasks assumed by Allied servicemen to find, catalog, restore and return mind-boggling numbers of priceless artifacts, we become as involved and invested in their success as they were. This sounds like a pretty unlikely topic for an entire movie, but trust me, it is engrossing from beginning to end!

You should be able to get this 2008 DVD from your local library, Netflix or a video catalog.