Outstanding documentary on the theft and destruction of European masterpieces up to and during WWII.
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10/16/08
The Rape Of Europa (2007)
79
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:39
Fresh:31
Rotten:8
Average Rating:7.2/10
Runtime: 1 hr 57 mins
Genre: Musical & Performing Arts
Synopsis: Joan Allen narrates this documentary that chronicles the plight of Europe's greatest artistic treasures during the Nazi reign. As the Third Reich attempted to destroy the continent's culture, art... [More]
Director: Bonni Cohen, Richard Berge, Nicole Newnham
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Reviews for The Rape Of Europa
A fascinating history lesson about a generally-overshadowed aspect of the Second World War.
09/22/08
That Hitler was mad is well known. That he was mad about art, not so well.
08/15/08
Top CriticThe Rape of Europa boasts a strong narration by Joan Allen as it explores a less familiar aspect of World War II and the legacy left by the Nazis.
06/20/08
The Rape of Europa is conventionally made, but it doesn't need cinematic sizzle because it's packed with so many fascinating factoids.
05/30/08
The Rape of Europa, an engrossing film based on Lynn Nicholas' 1995 book of the same name, offers a fascinating new perspective on an era that sometimes seems as if it has no more secrets.
05/29/08
Top CriticThe directors might have benefited by going smaller %u2014 for instance, focusing on two or three pieces of lost artwork and tracing their history. This art documentary simply isn't artful enough.
05/29/08
It's a compelling journey into a soul-chilling past that might not be fully sorted out for generations to come.
05/02/08
Its lack of both style and focus keeps it from being a success as a feature film.
04/24/08
The Rape of Europa presents iconic images that viewers who aren't schooled in European art will recognize. That's a good way to connect with the film and understand the enormity of the pillage by Hitler and his cronies.
04/11/08
The movie's three directors sap the drama out of the story with slow pacing, a dispassionate accumulation of facts and a too-dry narration by Joan Allen.
04/04/08
Narrated by Joan Allen, the film is a remarkably comprehensive look at the cultural destruction that accompanied the slaughter.
03/28/08
It's long for a documentary, almost two hours, but it has a big story to tell.
03/06/08
Top CriticThis is a vast subject, ideally suited to a series of films. It's at its most moving when focusing on the small stories of individual artworks taken from their owners and restored to the families decades later.
02/08/08
(T)his dense, dynamic documentary... takes on the high drama and difficult moral quandaries of Adolf Hitler's campaign to plunder the great artworks of Europe...
02/08/08
As thorough as the movie is, it could easily devote another hour to cases like this.
02/01/08
Top CriticThere is a heart-rending feeling to this documentary, in part due to its sense of irretrievable loss.
01/25/08
Top CriticFilmmakers Richard Berge, Bonni Cohen, and Nicole Newnham do a superb job of telling this neglected story in vivid detail.
01/11/08
Top CriticRenders one of the most arresting untold stories of World War II into something quite unaccountably boring.
01/07/08
A startling documentary.
01/04/08
Top CriticLatest News for The Rape Of Europa
January 11, 2008:
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November 20, 2007:
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A little over a week after reporting the names of the dozen films being submitted for Oscar consideration in the animated feature film category, Variety has given readers the... More...
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