In 2014, a movie was released entitled, “The Monuments Men”. It was directed by George Clooney. He stars in the film along with an ensemble cast of first rate talent. The film, which I happened to enjoy very much, received mixed reviews by critics and was more or less dismissed by the general public. It was a fictionalized account of real life events surrounding the recovery of art and other antiquities by the Allied forces in Europe which was stolen by the Nazi regime. The seven men who recovered these artifacts and returned them to their rightful owners were called “Monuments Men.”

I mean come on...what’s not to like. Apparently everything; it has been written that the various sub-plots and story lines were hard to follow. No one could decide if it was a comedy, as it wasn’t funny enough or a war film, in which case it wasn’t bloody enough.

However, I liked damn near everything about the film. I guess I am a cult of one. The soundtrack, which has been described as cheesy, reminded me of the music of the 1960’s screen epics I saw as a kid. I liked that. I thought the cast was superb and the dialogue even better. I also think that even though this was a fictionalized account of real life events, it is a compelling story and one that I find endlessly fascinating.

Maybe it is just old fashioned nostalgia that reminded me of a time when my country fought only the wars that needed fighting. It was a time when we were the good guys and yes the good guys won. My affection for this much maligned Hollywood “miss” lies in the fact that the central protagonists, including Clooney’s character, Frank Stokes, signed on to do a very noble thing which didn’t include killing anybody.

I think what has captivated me on a sub-conscious level and draws me back to the film (I’ve viewed it multiple times) is that the film continually asks the question, ‘What are those things worth fighting for?’ It is about the preservation of a culture. Both these abstract concepts are summarized in the film by two separate pieces of dialogue. One is the short pep talk given by Clooney’s character to his men early in the film. 

“You can wipe out an entire generation, you can burn their homes to the ground and somehow they'll still find their way back. But if you destroy their history, you destroy their achievements and it's as if they never existed. That's what Hitler wants and that's exactly what we are fighting for.”

Let that sink in for a moment.

The second piece of dialogue takes place between an American G.I. who was part of Stoke’s small brigade of men tasked to find and return these stolen antiquities.  He is assigned to Paris and put in touch with a French woman who has information as to the many locations where this art may be hiding. The G.I’s name is James Grainger played by Matt Damon. He is speaking to the French woman, named Claire Simone played by Cate Blanchett.

Granger thinks he is fluent in French but is comically bad which is very apparent to everyone except him. Clair Simone says to him, “Would you stop speaking French? Or whatever language you are speaking?” James Grainger snaps back, “If it weren't for us, you'd... you'd be speaking German.” Simone defiantly replied,  “No. If it was not for you, I might be dead, but I would still be speaking French.”  

Now take that small exchange and apply it to the previous three sentence soliloquy by Clooney’s character. Then think of music as both art and a language. It isn’t hard to relate all of this to the wholesale abuse foisted on blues music in this country. Here is the rub. Blues is a performing art. It doesn’t hang on a wall in a museum. It is shared on stage and on recordings. So rather than hiding in a salt mine or being torched by a flame thrower like the way the Nazi’s treated their stolen art, blues music is hiding behind a rocker posing as a blues man and being destroyed by the abhorrent sounds emanating out of his over amplified guitar. Make no mistake a language is being killed and an art form is being stolen. In the wake of these crimes lies a culture that is being left for dead.

Just like the cultural achievements of Europe and western civilization that were saved by Allied G.Is in the wake of World War Two, maybe it is European musicians who will help save America’s cultural gift to the world, the blues. Maybe help will come from our allies in South America. Americans strangely enough don’t seem to care too much and seem downright ambivalent about such things.

Local, state and federal funding helps preserve our European cultural heritage. Opera companies and symphony orchestras rely on funding from the National Endowment of the Arts and other well funded philanthropic organizations who help to make sure that the ‘fine arts’ continue to enrich our lives. Museums in every city in America receive similar endowments. I am very glad that this type of care is given to the things that make life worth living.   

As far as the achievements of the music that could only be made in this country (the United States) in a unique and obviously barbaric cultural milieu, not so much care has been given. The musical inventions and legacies of our nation’s African-Americans and the generations who continue to strive to do these pioneers justice are disregarded when it comes to philanthropy and support.

Winston Churchill famously said, “We have to remind our people what we are fighting for," when some in his own Parliament suggested that continuing to fund the arts in the face of a desperate struggle with Germany was frivolous.

Right here and right now we are in a struggle with ourselves. We are fighting are own impulses to always hunt and seek that next new thing, the latest gizmo or the current fad. We are fighting musical mediocrity. We are fighting a general indifference to greatness. We are fighting shameless opportunists who use this music as a platform to elevate their own social profile. We are fighting all these societies and foundations who use this music to forward their own petty provincial agendas.

We are fighting the prevailing xenophobia of American audiences who don’t think foreigners have any business playing this music. We are fighting racism (sometimes referred to as reverse racism) when people believe that Caucasians, regardless of their geographic origin, shouldn’t be singing and playing this music.

Maybe our new “Monuments Men” are the talented, dedicated practitioners of this form. They should be lauded for their achievements and saluted for their perseverance. More importantly we should reward them with our patronage.

Like the seven museum curators and art historians who are the central characters in the film, “The Monuments Men”, these dedicated musicians are also fighting to preserve a culture and a people whose achievents should never be forgotten. I am with these courageous individuals who believe, like I do, that these ideals are worth fighting for.

-  David Mac

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