Johannes Holzhausen (director)
Matchbox Films (studio)
12 (certificate)
94 minutes (length)
09 February 2015 (released)
08 February 2015
The Great Museum takes us on a tour of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. With an upcoming exhibition and the execution of the stunning Kunsstkammer galleries renovation, we are going to see history being made and loving restored. We spend time seeing how the museum works, meeting the faces behind the scenes and the politics that dictate everyday life. Many deal with the mundane tasks with humor and smiles. From the people who deal with the very small detail like moth catchers and steaming team to those people in charge of the main events. We see the glory of this museum.
I reviewed this previously for Film news, when I had the privilege of seeing it in the cinema. Little pieces of the film I missed the first time around have become the major focus on second viewing. Seeing the world of the museum visually in all its wonder the first time, I now see the characters. The pieces that have astonishing depth, the people who have real warmth and the spaces that are so full of wonder. You might find them for yourself if you did as I did and really studied the piece a second time from a fresh pair of eyes. You see the first time i went to the cinema screening, I was unsure as to what I might see. I have loved Fredrick Wiseman documentary films and didn't know if the director was going to be creating an homage (he was and wasn't). So when the film was screened i was blown away with its magnificent, under stated brilliance.
I go back to my original review in my points that the film is 'Visually stunning. It holds the exhibitions in a world as temporal as the museum space but also in a way a spiritual frame. This allows them to be at one divine and real.
I also feel it is refreshing the direct cinema style of documentary film making. As it this is an event film which is still about the ordinary and the extra ordinary. The day to day observations are intimate and delicate but also are filmed in a way that doesn’t tire or disengage a casual or hardened viewer. The natural beauty of spaces and objects are still there but now you can renew your appreciation of just how technically demanding the whole process of creation is for the teams tasked with making history real. It provoked thoughts of what history means and why it matters to us.
I loved the film and would highly recommend it to anyone. It is extra ordinary and it deserves to be a part of your collection.
There is also a collection of short films and a still gallery / slideshow.
Now I have all the time in the world with this wonderful film....please excuse me I want to watch it again....