The Last Vermeer

I have been looking forward to The Last Vermeer since I saw the trailer months ago and I was really excited to see it last night.  Weeks after the end of World War II Hermann Goring's collection of stolen art, including an incredibly valuable painting by Johannes Vermeer, is discovered in an abandoned railway car.  Captain Joseph Piller (Claes Bang) is tasked by the Allied forces with discovering who the art originally belonged to and who sold it to the Nazis.  His investigation of the Vermeer painting leads him to a painter named Han van Meegeren (Guy Pearce) and, believing him guilty of collaboration, he eventually arrests him.  When the local Dutch government, in the person of Alex de Klerk (August Diehl), takes jurisdiction of the case away from him and moves quickly to condemn van Meegeren, Piller has second thoughts about his guilt.  He enlists his assistant (Vicky Krieps) and a retired lawyer (Karl Johnson) to help him prove his innocence in court.  This movie was a bit of a mixed bag for me because the plot takes a really long time to get going.  The first half, where Piller investigates van Meegeren's involvement, is very boring and incredibly convoluted.  There are references to a vast conspiracy involving the sale of art to channel money to a German espionage ring but I didn't really understand any of this and I had a hard time keeping track of who was who because of all of the Dutch and German names.  I found my mind wandering many times.  However, the court scenes in the second half pulled me back in because the revelations about van Meegeren's actions are absolutely fascinating (it is based on a true story).  I really wish more of the narrative had focused on van Meegeren and the trial and less on Piller and his motivation (Pearce gives a much more dynamic performance as van Meegeren than Bang does as Piller).  Piller's character arc raises questions about the morality of acts committed for survival while a country is occupied by an enemy but I found van Meegeren's exploration of how the value of art is determined to be much more interesting (this theme reminded me of The Burnt Orange Heresy which also features Bang).  On a side note, I really liked the production design in the depiction of post-war Amsterdam (a favorite city of mine) and the lighting design which seems to mimic a Vermeer painting.  This is an average movie at best but I enjoyed it because of my fascination with World War II and my love of art.  It might be a bit too esoteric for most moviegoers.