On Holocaust Memorial Day, this seemed fitting. However I hadn't checked the cast list and I can't hide my disappointment whenever Ryan Reynolds appears on screen. He's an odd choice for this role and really doesn't work well at all. Helen Mirren however really carries this, in fact considering the subject matter she's an absolute delight. It's set in two seemingly opposing worlds, the 1938 of the Nazis and the present day (well 1998) inhabited by Mirren and Reynolds. The war era scenes are very powerful as expected and the present day really falls flat alongside, but that misses the point slightly. Although not as life threatening, the struggle is still there, lingering. I'd have to research more to say if this is historically accurate, but it's certainly a close outline of events. Ultimately it centres around the retrieval of stolen art (Klimt), but it's not the art itself, but the memories of family, friends, lost but never forgotten. Which again is why today, this is fitting.
8/10
