The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston was poorly
protected and badly staffed in 1990 when robbers dressed as cops tricked their
way inside, trussed up the guards, and over a period of 81 minutes stole works
of art valued at over $200 million. The thieves cut the paintings out of their
frames, damaging them irrevocably. It’s a heart-breaking scenario and it really
happened.
This is why I love Netflix. What fictional crime drama can
compete with the emotions that this show promises to invoke? If killing is a
symbol of separation and love for unity, then ‘This Is A Robbery’ is a
celebration of separation and loss because there is no neatly tied-up finale.
They never found the works.
The people the police and the FBI fingered for the heist are
or were all petty criminals, not dashing thieves with high-tech gadgetry. Sure
the playbook the thieves wrote for the robbery was inventive but the aftermath
didn’t involve a car screeching off into the darkness with the cops hot on
their heels. It involved a museum guard with duct tape wrapped around his head,
abandoned gilt frames scattered around the exhibition room, and a guard’s
office in disarray.
It involved merely destruction.
The habits and character of the people involved in the robbery warrant further inspection so if they ever find the art I hope they make a new series. Rembrandt is such a gigantic name in the art world and when a painting by the master goes missing you stand up and take notice. I took notice and I lament the loss and possible damage to his painting of a boat on the Sea of Galilee. Christ knows there are a lot of Old Masters in America but every one of them is worth preservation. This is why owning a painting such as this is a responsibility as well as a benefit. If you own a Picasso or a Matisse you have to look after it so that everyone can have the benefit of seeing it in real life.
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