Movies: ‘Steal’ Stacks the Deck

Finally got around to seeing “The Art of the Steal.” Which tells the tale of the decision to move the Barnes Foundation from outside of Philadelphia to inside Philadelphia. It’s a complicated, historical and eventually hysterical tale, which the filmmakers tell using bad-guy music (mostly by Philip Glass, cause this is a high-class affair) to tell us which side to be on—namely against the move to the Parkway downtown.
The movie is entertaining enough, at least until it has about three different endings. I thought the story of Dr. Albert Barnes was compelling and interesting. How he chose to exhibit his art and how he fought the Philadelphia establishment, which now seems very much to have the upper hand. Barnes made a mistake we all win: he died. And his will, which he evidently was iron-clad about keeping the art where it is today, did not foresee a whole host of political maneuvers that were to come after his death. I thought Barnes probably made some mistakes along the way, maybe because he let his anti-establishment venom define his decision-making.
I have not been to the Barnes, but the movie makes me want to go before the move. The morning after the movie I chatted with my mom, who mostly remembered from her Barnes visit a lot of trouble parking and rooms that were too small for her taste. “Whoever’s going to move it,” she said, “I think that’s a big plus.”