June 5, 2012

The Art of the Steal (2009)

Hey kiddos, I'm back with a short series on some documentaries I've seen recently that I enjoyed.
Simul-posted here: The Movie Advocate


The Art of the Steal
I enjoy art.  All of it.  Art art art.  I can't say I know more than a little about most forms, but I can say I stand firmly behind all of them.  But this movie isn't, as far as I can tell, really about art.  It's about a power struggle.  It's about a little guy who is blessed with the powers of foresight, and is able to cheaply purchase a bunch of things (that happen to be paintings) that he knows will someday be incredibly valuable, monetarily or otherwise.  Then, when these purchases pan out, and he'd be able to just rake in millions of dollars, because he is already independently wealthy, he uses the purchases to enrich people's lives instead of getting greedy.  You couldn't fabricate a better "good guy."

But hidden in the shadows, growing ever more aware of this veritable gold mine, is our Big Business Bad Guy, who see the opportunity to really cash in on these purchases.  Now, they don't want to go to prison, so they can't just outright steal the paintings.  But they can infiltrate and undermine the good guy, and steal it out from under him.  This is the story of The Art of the Steal.  It feels so American, really from either perspective.  I rather enjoyed the movie.


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