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The fragility of a nation’s culture during wartime has been put to test of late in Syria, Afghanistan, Mali and Iraq. In this brilliant essay film director Alexander Sokurov (Russian Ark), uses the example of the Louvre Museum as a way to investigate how that institution preserved artworks—just one aspect of civilization—during times of crisis.

Through reenactments and archival footage, Sokurov shows how Jacques Jaujard and Count Franziskus Wolff-Metternich—enemies then collaborators—created an alliance that would preserve the museum treasures. The film is a stunning and urgently relevant meditation on the essential relationship between art, culture, and history. 2015, France/Germany/Netherlands, DCP, in French, Russian, and German with English subtitles, 87 minutes.

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