Woman in Gold is the true story about Maria Altmann (Helen Mirren) and her journey that essentially began more than half a century before her efforts were noticed.  Altmann is an elderly Jewish woman who was forced to flee her home during the Nazi’s rise to power during World War II.  During the Second World War, the Nazi’s stripped her home of artwork.  After forty-three years after the the end of WWII, Maria Altmann attempts to sue the Austrian government for theft of the painting called “Woman in Gold” which has become an icon of Austrian culture and had originally been a portrait of her aunt.  In pursuit of suing the Austrian government, Maria Altmann hopes to achieve justice for the victims of the Holocaust during WWII.

Woman in Gold was satisfactory, but not exceptionally good.  The movie was predictable and forgettable.  The dark subject of the Holocaust and WWII has been dealt with in literature, film, and other works numerous times over the past half-century or so.  After a while, the topic gets to be burdensome for audiences.  Unlike books like The Book Thief and movies like The Imitation Game, Woman in Gold offers no new perspective of the Holocaust than Schindler’s List did.  The work is not groundbreaking or significant unlike the latter movie.  However, the performances of Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds (Randol Schoenberg) were adequate.  If you’re looking for a good film about the Holocaust or WWII, watch Schindler’s List instead.