In keeping with the theme of my most recent entry, I wanted to take a few moments to talk about “The Monuments Men,” which will be in theaters on February 7th. (Which is also Charles Dickens’ birthday!)

Our good friends at IMDb have this to say about the movie:

“Based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history, The Monuments Men is an action drama focusing on an unlikely World War II platoon, tasked by FDR with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returning them to their rightful owners. It would be an impossible mission: with the art trapped behind enemy lines and with the German army under orders to destroy everything as the Reich fell, how could these guys–seven museum directors, curators, and art historians, all more familiar with Michelangelo than with the M-1–possibly hope to succeed? But as the Monuments Men, as they were called, found themselves in a race against time to avoid the destruction of 1,000 years of culture, they would risk their lives to protect and defend mankind’s greatest achievements.”

Oh, and Hugh Bonneville is in it.

So that’s a bonus.

The film was directed by George Clooney, who also stars in it alongside Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, and Cate Blanchett.

The story of the Monuments Men is still very much alive, especially in recent news. A Nazi art cache was recently discovered, containing pieces that many thought had been lost forever.

Someone once asked Winston Churchill if he would cut government funding of the arts in order to support the war effort, and the war debt.

His reply?

“Then what are we fighting for?”