How do you hold war criminals accountable for their actions? After the atrocities of World War II happened, this was a question that no one quite had an answer for yet. But the formation of the courts in Nuremberg helped create a global court that could charge those responsible for their crimes and hopefully prevent that type of extremism from happening again.
If you’ve ever studied history, you’ve no doubt heard of the Nuremberg trials. But since most of us weren’t alive at the time, we only briefly get to read about it in books, see it referenced in movies or can watch the newsclips from the actual trials. This weekend, Sony Pictures Classics is bringing to the screen Nuremberg, which shows the early days after the war ended and how the need for justice created the international court that was formed as a result.
The movie mostly focuses on U.S. Army psychiatrist Lt. Col. Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek), who is brought in to talk with the 22 Nazi leaders who are going to be tried in the first round of trials in Nuremberg. Using his years of training, he is set to evaluate Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe), Rudolph Hess and other high ranking Nazi Officers to see if he can find out what makes them different than the average person. Is there something more to their evil or is it just part of the human condition. Along the way Kelley dances the line with Göring as doctor and event friend, hoping and finding softness that many people would consider evil.
Nuremberg does a great job in bringing together the duality of those being charged and what is actually at stake if the trials aren’t handled well. It highlights the stories of the criminals, the victims and the horrors of war. While many movies take the time to focus on the brutality done to the victims of war, Nuremberg address it visually only in the context of the trial as it actually happened. It doesn’t bank on the cruelty to the story, but doesn’t try to hide that it happened as well.
Nuremberg is an interesting look at the people and the work behind making the trials after World War II into a reality. From the struggle to hold war criminals accountable, the harsh realities of the war to the manipulation tactics that the Nazi leaders still used even in the last days of their lives. While there may be some creative license taken on the stories and the actual interactions that happened, it’s an interesting look back on history and an attempt for accountability.
The movie does seem to drag on at some points and really is a bit long, but it seems like the timing of this release isn’t accidental. There are lines in the movie that are chillingly close to things that we’ve heard in recent years in news clips and in press briefings. It almost seems like this is an attempt to bring a cautionary historical look at the past to some audiences.
Nuremberg is in theaters everywhere today.
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About Nuremberg
In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, as the world grapples with the unveiled horrors of the Holocaust, U.S. Army psychiatrist Lt. Col. Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) is assigned the extraordinary task of assessing the mental state of Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe), the notorious former Reichsmarschall and Hitler’s second in command, along with other high-ranking Nazi officials.
As the Allies – led by the unyielding chief U.S. prosecutor, Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson (Michael Shannon) alongside Sgt. Howie Triest (Leo Woodall), David Maxwell-Fyfe (Richard E. Grant), Gustave Gilbert (Colin Hanks), Col. John Amen (Mark O’Brien) and Burton C. Andrus (John Slattery) – navigate the monumental task of creating an unprecedented international tribunal to ensure the Nazi regime answers for its atrocities, Kelley gets to know his ‘patients’. But he soon finds himself locked in a psychological duel with Göring, whose charisma and cunning reveal a sobering truth: that ordinary men can commit extraordinary evil.