Nuremberg

 

“This war ends in a courtroom.”

Timely, engrossing and enlightening, Nuremberg faithfully reconstructs the infamous war trials whilst balancing procedural drama with personal stories to deliver an impacting historical epic that is determined to inform so that atrocities don’t repeat themselves again. 

Discussion Points:

The danger of a historical drama is that in its breadth of content and time, it can lack depth. Thankfully Nuremberg, despite its fair share of dramatic monologues that blatantly declare the films thesis - that shining a light on these atrocities is designed to make sure they never happen again, avoids being too preachy and retains subtlety. Director/writer James Vanderbilt has assembled an incredible cast spearheaded by Rami Malek as chief psychiatrist Douglas Kelly and Russell Crowe as 2nd in command of the Nazi reich, Hermann Göring, alongside Michael Shannon, Richard E. Grant, Leo Woodall, John Slattery and more. Watching this Nazi and psychiatrist go toe-to-toe in a mental battle of wit is thoroughly engrossing amidst the larger efforts to put the surviving Reich on trial. Behind the atrocities of the Nazis, is the banality of evil - that not grotesque monsters, but mere men - can commute such heinous acts. And quite boldly Nuremberg doesn’t shy away from showing these evil things. The film could easily have cut away from courtroom footage of the Holocaust, but by including it, as distressing as it is, it affirms the films thesis - if these things are not brought into the light - they will happen again. Nuremberg is thus a timely film as well as faithful film that recreates a key time in world history with impressive attention to detail. The result is a transportive work that champions justice and the need to remember history lest we repeat it.