Banksy and the Stolen Girl

Banksy and the Stolen Girl is the story of the theft of Banksy’s stencil called “The Sad Girl”. The stencil was on the exit door of the Bataclan Theatre in Paris, the door through which many concertgoers escaped the massacre by terrorists in 2015 when 90 people were killed and 413 were injured — a stencil that quickly became as famous and as unsalable as Oscar Wilde’s tomb … so, you’ve stolen Wilde’s tomb and are fencing it out of the back of a truck, “want to buy some artistic marble?” But, I digress…

It is a well-told, thought-provoking story of an art theft. A transnational police investigation with many twists turns, and surprises to keep you thinking and talking about it long after it is finished. It is backed up with good footage and interviews: police, street art experts and some criminals.

The documentary does leave things out, reducing the number of criminals involved to five. BBC News reports that eight men have been sentenced for the 2019 theft, a few more than were mentioned in the documentary. Three men involved in transporting the door to Italy were left out to keep the story tight.

It is more important to hear from one of the thieves, their fence, and the ex-partner of another thief, even if some of the interviewees are not to be trusted. They show the planning and how there was no organised crime mastermind behind the theft.

The quartet of thieves and fence could move stolen cars and motorcycles, but the most famous Banksy in France was a giant step up. However, the thieves were too stupid to realise how out of their league their ambitions were. Their audacity is matched by their stupidity and machismo, both of which prove their undoing.

Stealing art ignores how difficult it is to sell any art. Stealing famous art, like Banksy’s “The Sad Girl” on the exit door of the Bataclan Theatre, is easy, but selling it is impossible. Who would want it? A wealthy criminal who could afford to buy a real Banksy that he could show off to his friends, who are so trustworthy they would never betray him? Get real.

The stupidity of many art thieves cannot be underestimated; consider the trio of stupid thieves who robbed the New Norica Mission in WA, the thief in Queensland who stole what he thought was a Cezanne or the number of art thieves who return the stolen art within a week of having stolen it.

Banksy and the Stolen Girl, 2023, Italian, 53m, a documentary by Edoardo Anselmi (on SBS).