Do we know our neighbors? Can we truly know everything about our families? Allison Otto’s The Thief Collector is an art heist documentary that builds slowly, into a surprising, “seriously?” moment that pleases – in its story and in Otto’s intriguing way of telling it. Otto has created a documentary that is an entertaining blend of heist, mystery, and reflection. Using reenactments and traditional documentary style, Otto weaves an unexpected story that plays out more like fiction than fact.
As the story goes, in 1985 the day after Thanksgiving Day, a non-descript retired couple, Jerry and Rita Atler amble into the University of Arizona Museum of Art at 9:00 am. In the mostly empty museum, Rita distracts a guard while Jerry cuts the museum’s most famous work – a 1955 abstract expressionist portrait painting called “Woman-Ochre” by William de Kooning. Jerry cut the painting out of the frame, rolled it up, hid it in his jacket, and walk it right out of the building followed by Rita. The pair made their getaway in a rust-colored sports car. The real surprise here lies in the fact that they did not try to sell the piece, but instead, they reframed it and hung it behind their bedroom door.
Even though most of the actual truth of what happened is left unanswered by the film’s finale, there is no shortage of theories offered up by the film’s participants. Otto’s telling becomes a tad satirical with the reenactments of actors Glenn Howerton and Sarah Minnich and occasionally it borders on a bit campy, but the allegations put forth about the couple – the art theft and murder included – open up a plethora of questions. Family and friends seem genuinely perplexed by the possibilities, making the mystery even more intriguing. Why, for example, would Jack and Rita choose that painting and why steal it in the first place only to hang it behind a bedroom door for decades? And perhaps more shocking – could they kill a man and cover it up?
Still, there is a lightness to the story – an almost warm peek into what on the surface seems like normal life – only it was far from normal. The secrets shared by the pair went with them to their graves, but Otto manages to infuse an excellent sense of secrecy and intrigue to warrant curiosity. The movie offers a reasonably plausible explanation that pegs the Alters not only as art thieves but also as Middle American sociopaths clandestinely living outside the law. Otto’s documentary deserves 4 stars.