Here’s today’s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture.

“While we must and will win this war, we should also remember the high price that will be paid if the very foundation of modern society is destroyed.” – George Clooney as Frank Stokes, the lead character in the new World War II movie The Monuments Men about a military mission to prevent the Nazis from destroying great works of European art and culture.  The line points to the film’s relevance to our own time when the history and values of our own culture sometimes seems to be under fire from all sides — often, ironically, from Hollywood itself.  Indeed, this movie is at least a promising sign that some in the movie industry get it. Traditional culture and values are important. They’re worth preserving — and fighting for.

Synopsis: Based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history, The Monuments Men is an action drama focusing on an unlikely World War II platoon, tasked by FDR with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returning them to their rightful owners. It would be an impossible mission: with the art trapped behind enemy lines, and with the German army under orders to destroy everything as the Reich fell, how could these guys – seven museum directors, curators, and art historians, all more familiar with Michelangelo than the M-1 – possibly hope to succeed? But as the Monuments Men, as they were called, found themselves in a race against time to avoid the destruction of 1000 years of culture, they would risk their lives to protect and defend mankind’s greatest achievements.

The Monuments Men, with an all-star cast that includes George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin, Hugh Bonneville and Bob Balaban hits theaters tomorrow 2/7.  The movie may just provide hopeful proof that they can make ’em like they used. Here’s hoping it’s a hit.

Encourage one another and build each other up – 1 Thessalonians 5:11