Exquisite movie, well acted, Helen Mirren shines (again)

Dear GOD - what a movie.

I have been waiting for a while for this little gem. Because of a medical condition, I can't go to the movies - so I eagerly await movies to come available on Netflix - and this was one I eagerly awaited. I figured I would like it, but was not expecting to actually really, really 1000% love it. 1) Anyone who has had an inkling of an education knows what happened during WWII; that the NAZIs, led by an art school reject, throws Europe into a 2nd World War, plundered Europe and it's Jewish citizens of their possessions, massacred generations of Jews (along with other groups) - in my honest opinion, loosing humanity countless great minds, their vast knowledge, and all the things they could have accomplished - especially in the medical and science fields. My heart aches for what we have forever lost (lives, medical cures, technological advancements, etc...).

2) We don't need a movie to hit us over the head with a painful detailed outlining of the horrible acts committed by the Nazis (though it doesn't hurt to remind each new generations so that it doesn't happen again). This movie walked the fine line - by not pointing out what the Nazis did to Europe as a whole, but what the Nazis were allowed to do by the Austrian Government to many of it's own citizens - and only when a spotlight was shone on it by the world - did it portray a weak attempt at 'Restitution' - while obvious to everyone that they had no intention of seeing it through.

Helen Mirren once again proves to me why I consider her one of the greatest, if not the greatest actress of her and my generation. She totally becomes the persona she is tasked with. When I think of Queen Elizabeth II, I see Helen's face. When I think of Queen Elizabeth I, I sometimes see Helen's face, (other times I see Kate Blanchett's), forever more, when I think of Woman in Gold, I will see Helen Mirren's face - as the face of Maria Altmann. She becomes her characters. She exudes pain, anguish, distrust, hides an emotional storm below the surface. I felt the pain. My biggest shock, and the part where I start to see the change in Ryan Reynold's character is when he is at the Holocaust Museum. Seriously? That's it!?!? - it's the size of a child's playhouse or a backyard storage building. I had the same emotional response as Ryan Reynolds (though I am sure it is 1/1000 of what the real Randol Schoenberg had in seeing the names of his ancestors on the wall - does the phrase "this *beep* just got real" fit here? It changes him. He now sees how important 'This' is. I don't necessarily feel that Katie Holmes totally fit her part - she is forgettable, maybe that was the film's intent.

It was shocking, outstanding, and Karmic Justice - that one of the main reasons the outcome was achieved (arguably) was because of the help coming from one of the unlikeliest of people - the son of an actual Nazi, who has spent his life making up for the sins of his father - along with others who felt that it was time that Austria finally acknowledged those that it had once stood by as some of it's citizens were tossed in the gutter.

This is a beautiful, emotional, exquisite presentation. It took what some consider to be a thorny weed - and presented it as a beautiful, fragrant flower. I felt the same about 2013's Belle.

Anyway, I highly recommend this to anyone that's a fan of Helen Mirren, the subject at hand, a fan of Justice, or wants to see a great movie.