The Rape of Europa
Review by Carly Kaufman

Although The Rape of Europa is categorized as a WWII documentary, DO NOT let that steer you away from seeing it! Through photos, video clips and interviews, The Rape of Europa tells the moving story about how the Nazis looted and destroyed art on a scale unprecedented in history.

The fact that Adolf Hitler was mad is common knowledge, but the fact that he was mad about art is what this film really brings to light. This number may shock you – about one-fifth of Europe’s significant art (we are talking art worth millions here), is what the Nazis made off with over the course of 12 years. But Europe fought back, and this documentary captures how everyday people volunteered their time to try and safeguard, rescue and return these stolen treasures. Even today, experts are still trying to resolve this massive art theft which has left hundreds of works of art unfound or unreturned to their rightful owner/descendant.

This documentary does an excellent job weaving all the interviews, video clips and pictures together to tell this shocking story. However, it does tend to drag a bit at the end when it goes off on a tangent about returning Jewish ritual objects to the families they were taken from. This is not a short documentary, but it is definitely worth taking the time to see it.

The Rape of Europa opens at the Tivoli on Friday, March 7th.

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 4

Visit the Official The Rape of Europa website.