I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Blistering performances.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

If only the Vienna Art Academy would have found a place for young Adolf Hitler, we might have had a different world. But, they didn't think him a worthy artist, and upon his rise to power, he put his stamp on the art allowed in Germany and destroyed many works.This film is about Hitler and the Nazi efforts to steal art all over the world as they conquered countries.Poland was especially targeted, as Hitler planned to wipe out the Polish people, and all their culture and repopulate the country with Germans. The use of WWII footage made this especially poignant and brought home the evil in his mind.Next was Paris, and it was fascinating to see how they emptied the Louvre before the Germans came. The French managed to protect most of their art; except for the thousands of paintings in Jewish galleries, of course.The Russians managed to get a million paintings to Siberia before the Germans came, but many more paintings were at risk.The Nazis were not the only ones responsible for the destruction and theft of European art. The United States dropped tons of bombs and, in one case, destroyed the Montecassino Monastery completely with no enemy dead. The Camposanto in Pisa was destroyed by shells that missed their mark.But, the work that went on after the war to return the stolen art, and the work that goes on today to restore the damage gives on a good feeling. It is a shame it had to happen at all.

This was a real historical awakening. I didn't realize that the plundering of Europe was not only premeditated but also very systematic by the Nazi regime. The interviews were excellent but I would have enjoyed more. The archival footage from both the allies and axis powers was detailed and intimate which included color as well as b&w. I was near tears to think of the great loss of centuries of historical buildings, valuables, art and other treasures due to the one idiot. I couldn't help to think what if this was the USA. How horrible the people of Europe must have felt during and after the war. I had never heard of the French patriot Rose Valland before and she truly was a French hero.

I have just returned from this film and am another satisfied customer. It always feels a bit strange going to the cinema to see a documentary, but docs always turn out to be so much better and more fulfilling than the blockbusters. A real whirlwind of emotions, the Rape of Europa is something in which everyone living in the western world has a stake. The destructive force of war on human beings and those things which are crucial to our humanity, our art, is put into a perspective that is about as balanced as we can hope to get. Many positive things I would say have already been said, so I will offer one criticism: the city of Dresden, once called the "Florence on the Elbe," was not mentioned in the film. As perhaps the worst bombed city of the war, and a city which had no military value whatsoever but was of incalculable worth culturally, I felt this was a major omission. Of course, the film covered an amazing amount of ground, and the Dresden bombing remains a touchy subject for many, so I can comprehend the constraints of time and the need to avoid charged tangents. However, as someone who has lived in that city (many parts of which remained ruins until only recently), I still would have liked to have heard it mentioned. That said, the film was wonderful on a whole. If only everything they showed in the cinemas were half as good.

The Rape of Europa is a slick, well shot, well directed, interesting, highly informative and still entertaining documentary from the directorial triumvirate of Bonni Cohen, Nicole Newnham and Richard Berge. The documentary uses the book by Lynn H. Nicholas of the same name as a kind of runway for its exploration of the Nazi's systematic plundering of Europe's art. The film incorporates interviews, voice over narration. vintage footage photos and documents that all work cooperatively in making this documentary work in every respect. The film takes its viewers on an in depth journey of the subject through seven European countries, most notably France, Italy, Poland and Germany.The film sheds light on Hitler's own personal art career, from his rejection of Vienna's art Academy to his plans to amass the world's largest art collection in his ideal city. Interesting and relatively unknown facts are uncovered that relate Hitler's art career to his actions as dictator. Hitler's antisemitism, as one interview subject suggests, was likely fueled by his rejection from Vienna's art Academy as the academy's panel was largely Jewish. Hitler also created a "hit-list" of famous works he wanted for his collection, most of which directly correspond to his invasion of various European countries. Art collecting was a highly important pastime among Nazi officials for a variety of reasons, as discussed largely with Herman Goering and Hitler himself who had amassed enormous, unparalleled personal collections, largely through theft.Another highly interesting portion of the film shows the perilous and miraculous journey many of these works underwent. As a Nazi invasion loomed, hundreds of people, in France's world famous Louvre for example, gathered and worked tirelessly, packing the priceless art and transferring it to castles throughout the French countryside. The daughter of the man entrusted with the Mona Lisa is interviewed in the film.The film examines the seventy-year plus struggle to restore and reclaim these stolen masterpieces, many of which remain unaccounted for. The allied position of fighting while simultaneously trying to maintain the hostage art is also discussed in detail, as well as the Allied efforts to return the art after it was repossessed. The film is a must-see for art or WWII historians as well as those simply interested.