"The Train"
The Nazi occupation of France was a nightmare for the French people. We celebrate the Liberation of Paris with music and the pictures of the joyous crowds. But there is a movie which shows what it was like just before the liberation for everyday French people during the Nazi retreat. “The Train.” It tells the story of saving the priceless art, looted from museums and private collections. The Nazis were trying to move these cultural treasures back to Nazi Germany to use as hostages of war. Picasso, Renoir, Miro, Cezanne, Degas, the pride of France. Starring Burt Lancaster (1965,) it’s a good film, difficult to follow and a bit brutal (so was the war.) I don’t feel this film got the recognition it deserved. It’s worth watching. (A bit too long.) Based on fact but in reality, near as I can tell, the actual train was stopped at a village just outside of Paris. But it escaped the allied bombing, thanks to the resistance. And the treasures were able to return to Paris. Western civilization owes a great debt to the French men and woman who died protecting them. Viva La France.
