Musemwill
display art
stolen during
World WarH
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia
(AP) — Eighty-nine art treasures
looted by the victorious Red
Army at the end of World War II
went on dis
play Tues- + *
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vealed that MlKHAIL
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The show, entitled “Master
Drawings Revisited: Treasures
from Prewar German Collec
tions,” includes works by such
masters as Paul Cezanne, Vincent
Van Gogh, Francisco Goya and
Eugene Delacroix. It runs through
burr'll
These trophies of war are at
the heart of bitter disputes be
tween Russia and countries like
Germany, where special Soviet
teams scooped up millions of art
works, rare books and other pre
cious objects.
The original owners, which
range from museums and librar
ies to the families of private col
lectors, want their treasures back.
Russia has refused to return
them, despite international prohi
bitions against looting. Some ar
gue the booty is Russia’s rightful
compensation for the immense
damage it suffered to its own cul
tural treasures during the war.
Hermitage director Mikhail
Piotrovsky tried to keep the fo
cus Tuesday on the art, not the
ownership dispute.
“This is an artistic event, not
a political event,” he said, cutting
a ribbon at the entrance to the or
nate Nikolayevsky Hall. “We’ve
fulfilled our duty, which is to dis
play the art. The next step is for
the lawyers to decide.”
Wolf-Dieter Dube, a Berlin
museum director and member of
a joint Russian-German commis
sion on trophy art, said other
former Soviet republics have re
turned wartime loot and Russia
should follow suit. Otherwise, he
warned, German public opinion
could turn against Russia and
jeopardize the aid Berlin has lav
ished (Mi Moscow since the Soviet
collapse in 1991.
Russia, he pointed out, has yet •
to reveal the full extent of its
holdings of trophy art. That se
crecy makes exhibitions like this
one eagerly awaited events in the
art world.
Joan Kahn, a tourist from
Washington, D.C., timed her vi^it
to Russia to coincide with the
opening.
“They should just show the
art,” she said. “Let the politicians
take care of the other decisions.”
Aaron Steckelberg/DN
‘English Patient’ cures love deficiency
By Gerry Beltz
Movie Critic
Break out the hankies, ladies and
gentlemen. “The English Patient” is
one of those epic, romantic films that
could make a cement block shed a tear.
Granted, the film is over 214-hours
long and could have stood a trim here
and there without losing anything in the
storyline, but then it would have lost
its appeal as an epic romance.
Forbidden romance is nothing new
in the world of cinema, but bringing
together the talent of Ralph Fiennes
and Kristin Scott Thomas was a stroke
of genius, and moves the film to a new
level of subtlety and obsession.
The film also follows two different
time lines, so get your munchies be
fore the film starts.
It’s the time of World War II, and a
plane is shot down over the desert.
Only one person survives, but he
closely resembles a victim from the
latest “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”
film.
Eventually, because of the excruci
ating pain from just being moved, he
is left at an abandoned monastery with
Hana (Juliette Binoche), a nurse who
is recovering from some scars of her
own.
Everything that has led up to that
point is told through flashbacks, cen
tering on the torrid romance between
the injured cartographer Count Laszlo
Almasy (Fiennes) and Katherine
Clifton (Thomas),, the wife of one of
Almasy’s fellow map-makers.
The connection between the two is
instantaneous, but is fought for some
time by Almasy.
But do they eventually succumb to
temptation? Heck, yeah! Where do you
think the ‘R’ rating came from?
Their romance, however, has doom
following in its wake. People start dy
ing left and right (the war doesn’t ex
actly help, either), but these two have
an obsession for one another that
knows no ends.
Back in real lime, Caravaggio
(Willem Dafoe) has arrived with a
mysterious agenda involving our bed
ridden hero, and seems to know more
about Almasy than he knows about
himself.
Director-writer Anthony Minghella
(“TYuly, Madly, Deeply”) has come up
with another masterpiece of cinema
with “The English Patient,” but unfor
tunately does very little work with the
war-tom Hana. -He begins to develop
the character, but eventually just leaves
the character hanging with no place to
Film: “The English Patient” |
Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Kristin Scott f
Thomas, Willem Dafoe
Director: Anthony Minghella
Rating: R (nudity, violence, adult situ
ations)
Grader
Five Words: Intense forbidden ro
mance spells doom
go.
The performances from Fiennes
and Thomas are top notch, and hope
fully the success of “The English Pa
tient” will keep Kristin Scott Thomas
appearing on American screens.
An overall excellent film, go see
“The English Patient,” and take a
friend too.
Lincoln libraries look to update strategic plans
By Ann Stack
Senior Reporter
Users of the Lincoln Public librar
ies now have a voice in the services
they’re offered by providing feedback
on the new preliminary strategic plan.
Strategic plans are updated about
every five years, said Barbara Hansen,
administrative aid for Lincoln City Li
braries. The libraries began the plan
ning process, titled “Guide Us To The
Future,” in December 1995.
Strategic plans act as a guide for
all the decisions made concerning the
libraries, Hansen said. For example,
she said if the economy should take a
turn for the worse, a strategic plan
would help dictate what to cut and
keep.
The main components of the pre
liminary planning process focused on
community input and library staff.
“We did one-on-one interviews
with 60-plus community leaders,”
Haflsen said. “We did 27 focus groups
with people of all ages and asked what
they thought the key roles and goals
M
Outreach and collaboration is what
people want. They want outreach
programs with the community centers
and with the public schools, and
collaboration with departments like
Lincoln Parks and Rec to present
educational programs.”
Barbara Hansen
administrative aid for Lincoln City Libraries
for the Lincoln City Libraries were.”
Some goals identified by commu
nity response as outlined in the plan
are improved service collection and
better youth services, she said, as well
as community outreach and collabora
tion.
“Outreach and collaboration is what
people want,” she said. “They want
outreach programs with the community
centers and with die public schools, and
collaboration with departments like
Lincoln Parks and Rec to present edu
cational programs.”
Another task set forth for the librar
ies is keeping up with advancing tech
nology and diversity issues.
Hansen said a goal was to hire a
more diverse and bilingual staff to bet
ter serve Lincoln’s growing ethnic
communities. Another facet of this pro
gram would be to present programs in
the various ethnic community centers,
she said.
Community members are being
asked to provide feedback on the pre
liminary plan by the Lincoln City Li
braries. That can be done in one of four
ways:
• Complete a Community Feedback
Form available at any library by Dec.
23.
• Request that a member of the
library’s Speaker’s Bureau attend a
group meeting to review the plan by
calling Evelyn at 441-8579.
• Send written comments to Lincoln
City Libraries, 136 S. 14th St., Lincoln,
Neb. 68508.
• Attend,one of four public forums
offered: 1:30 p.m. today at Gere
Branch, 2400 S. 56th St.; 7 pm Thurs
day at Anderson Branch, 3635
Touzalin; 12 pm Dec. 10 at Bennett
Martin Public Library, 136 S. 14th, 4th
floor; and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 12 at
Belmont Recreation Center, 1234
Judson, north nom.