The 2014 film "The Monuments Men" is about a group of museum curators, artists, and art experts who are assembled during World War II to go to Europe to recover art objects stolen by the Nazis and return them to their owners. The publicity generated by this film caused the United States Congress to honor the Monuments Men with the Congressional Gold Medal.
The film was based on Robert M. Morse's 2007 book Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History. The film was based on actual events but the film characters are fictitious. Some parts of the film are deadly serious but much of the film is a service comedy about middle-aged men in the service. George Clooney plays a fictional character Frank Stokes, based on real-life art expert George Stout who worked for Harvard's Fogg Museum. Frank Stokes makes a presentation to President Roosevelt about art and cultural objects being destroyed in Europe by the various armies, some accidently and some intentionally. He also explains that the Nazis have a program of stealing cultural objects. Nazi general Hermann Göring is stealing art for himself and other Nazis are stealing for Adolf Hitler's planned Führer Museum. Frank is given a US Army commission to assemble a group of men to head to Europe and rescue and recover as much of these objects as they can. Frank contacts men that he knows, most of whom are middle-aged and not in good shape to become soldiers. Most are Americans but some are from England and France.

The film begins with top Nazi Hermann Göring visiting the Paris Jeu de Paume Museum to select the latest batch of paintings for his collection. Viktor Stahl is a Nazi official has been using the museum as a collection point for art stolen in France. Claire Simone is a French woman who works there and she has been secretly writing down descriptions of the items being taken. In Washington DC museum director Frank Stokes gives a presentation to President Roosevelt on the destruction of artistic and cultural items and asks that efforts be made to preserve them.

Stokes is given an Army commission to assemble the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives group. He first contacts James Granger, another museum director, and then Richard Campbell, an architect.

Richard Campbell (Bill Murray) sees two men in uniform and know he is about to be drafted. Next is Walter Garfield, a sculptor.

More men are added and they head for some comical army basic training. Meanwhile in Berlin...

Adolf Hitler is looking over a planned model of his Führer Museum. In July 1944 the men land in France.

The active military commanders think that saving art is silly and refuse to assist the men. They are resourceful and obtain jeeps and military equipment. Some troops capture Germans with old paintings and Frank recognizes works by Vermeer and other well-known artists. A German-speaking American soldier finds out where the Germans were taking the paintings.

One of Frank's men heads for Bruges and finds a Michaelangelo statue. The Nazis arrive to remove the statue and kill the man. In Paris, James Granger contacts French museum worker Claire Simone and asks her for help. She refuses as she believes that the Americans want to steal the art for themselves, however she does show him around Paris. and takes him to a warehouse filled with household items.

Claire tells James that the Nazis stole just about anything they could get their hands on. Meanwhile the Russians are also collecting things.

Russian "trophy brigades" are moving through Germany taking art items. Richard develops a toothache and he and Preston visit a German dentist. Afterwards the three visit the dentist's friend and his family.

The friend is is Stahl of the Jeu de Paume but looking less dangerous in civilian clothes. Preston asks about the paintings on the wall and Stahl tells him they are copies. They aren't and the Americans drive off with Stahl, who is later arrested. In Paris, Claire sees a newspaper article about the arrest of Stahl and now trusts James. She gives him a list of items which she saw being shipped to Germany and tells him that they went to mines for storage. Some of the men head for the mines where they find paintings.

Richard explores further and finds something else.

They find a huge cache of gold bars and bags. Although not shown in the film, the bags contained gold coins from all over Europe and from the United States including $20 "double eagle" gold coins. The American generals who previously paid little attention to the Monuments Men are now interested.

Although not stated, the generals included George Patton and Dwight Eisenhower. The lads learn that some of the goods are stored in a castle.

Neuschwanstein castle was built in the 1880's by King Ludwig II of Bavaria. It is sometimes called the "fairy tale castle" and is the model for the "Sleeping Beauty" castle at Disneyland. The men find more art items, including very important set of Belgian religious paintings called the "Ghent Altarpiece."

Frank has been searching for a stolen Michaelangelo statue called the "Madonna of Bruges." He feels that he has to find and recover it as his man was killed trying to protect it.

It is the statue.

The Russians are coming and the Americans hurriedly remove everything including the statue. They leave something for the Russians.

The war is over and Frank is back in Washington DC to give a presentation to the new President Truman.

The projected picture shows the real General Eisenhower with some paintings. People have asked Frank whether the recovery effort was worth the lives of the men lost.

He says "yes."

George Clooney as Frank Stokes
Matt Damon as James Granger
Bill Murray as Richard Campbell
John Goodman as Walter Garfield
Cate Blanchett as Claire Simone
Director: George Clooney
Writers: George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Robert M. Edsel, Bret Witter

The Congressional Gold Medal is an award bestowed by the United States Congress since 1776. It has been given to individuals including generals, politicians, aviators, and film stars. It has also been given to groups, including various World War II units. The film was the subject of a publicity campaign which included books, television documentaries and interviews with surviving Monuments Men. The publicity prompted the Congress to award the medal to the Monuments Men on June 9, 2014, a few months after the film was released. The US Mint sells bronze copies of the medal:

Bronze, 38 mm, 25.84 gm
Obverse:
Men holding painting
MONUMENTS MEN
Reverse:
Excerpts from old paintings
IT IS OUR PRIVILEGE TO PASS ON TO THE COMING CENTURIES TREASURES OF PAST AGES
GEN. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
ACT OF CONGRESS 2014