The World's Most Expensive Stolen Paintings (2013 TV Movie) User Reviews (2)

Insubstantial Subject Stretched out Into a One-Hour Slot

[l_rawjalaurence · 6/10 · 30 April 2016]

Sometimes the one-hour slot for BBC arts documentaries can be a handicap as well as an advantage, especially if the subject-matter seems insignificant.

This is certainly the case with THE WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE STOLEN PAINTINGS, where presenter Alastair Sooke surveys some of the most audacious heists past and present from galleries worldwide, looks at how they were organized, and interviews some of the security personnel involved in trying to recover the stolen works.

The program was constructed in heist-thriller style, recalling films such as Ronald Neame's GAMBIT (1966) - far better than the 2012 remake - with the heists constructed as audacious plots designed to outwit even the most sophisticated security systems. As such, they are to be admired as well as deplored. Although Sooke tried to introduce a serious note by claiming that stolen works deprive all of us of our artistic heritage, we could not help but think that the criminals who actually planned such raids achieved what might be described as perfect crimes, especially as many of the paintings they stole have never been recovered.

beauty and imagination brought low by greed

[myriamlenys · 9/10 · 30 May 2023]

It is well-known that only a small percentage of stolen artwork gets recovered. So what happens to the paintings that disappear into the night ? Do they get to grace the walls of eccentric billionaires ? Do they end up as teaching material in exclusive schools for ultra-posh critics ? Are they used by gang bosses as proof positive of their daring and prowess ? In this interesting documentary, presenter Alastair Sooke tries to lift a tip of the veil. Travelling around the world, he visits the sites of notorious heists, in order to speak to witnesses and experts.

Mr. Sooke is not too fond of Hollywood's depiction of art thieves as glamorous gentlemen criminals. He also does not take kindly to art theft, which he calls an attack on the common patrimony and the common memory of Humanity. (Very hard to disagree with him, here.) At times he grows visibly angry, for instance when listening to the explanations of a notorious thief. The thief, by the way, takes a very dim view of museum guards protecting museum property : according to him, they are irresponsible fools. It is difficult to think of a better example of an upended moral conscience, where black has become white and vice versa.

One of the segments of the documentary concerns the theft of part of the "Ghent Altarpiece". Here in Belgium we call this splendid painting "Het Lam Gods", meaning the Lamb of God. In spite of decades of intensive searches, the missing panel featuring the Righteous Judges has never been recovered. This has become a nation-wide cultural trauma.

On the other hand, the search for the panel has turned into a national sport. Not a year goes by without a bright spark publishing his theories or climbing the roof of some cathedral (there's an obvious clue to be found in the third gargoyle on the left !) The man who stole the Righteous Judges - almost certainly one Arsène Goedertier - may have been a sacrilegious vandal, an extortionist and a thief, but at least he's given us something to do on our Sunday afternoons.