Director: James Vanderbilt
Actors: Rami Malek, Russell Crowe, Michael Shannon, John Slattery
Genre: Drama
Rating: M
‘Nuremberg’ is a mostly-accurate biopic following the post-Word
War II war crimes trials for the remains of the Nazi leadership. Because there’s
multiple viewpoints or angles that could’ve been taken, the film follows
Hermann Goring (Crowe) as the highest-ranked surviving member of Nazi Germany,
the general of their air force. He’s imprisoned by Colonel Andrus (Slattery)
and Dr Kelley (Malek) is charged with keeping the Nazi prisoners from
committing suicide. The interactions between Kelley and Goring are the key focus.
The other focus is Justice Robert Jackson (Shannon) and Sir
Maxwell-Fyfe (Grant) as they develop the prosecution and concept of an unprecedented
international trial. This means it’s not completely a courtroom drama, even
though that is the core of the final 30min. Crowe and Malek are great, and
their scenes and relationship drives the story. Crowe does a great job of giving
a literal war criminal, responsible for the worst atrocity ever, some sympathy
and charm. The support cast are solid too, especially Sergent Triest (Woodall),
and small roles from Colin Hanks and Lydia Peckham.
There’s no war scenes, and limited violence, but the most
harrowing and impactful scene is when the courtroom (and therefore the world)
is shown the concentration camps and the bodies, using real footage. The film doesn’t
feel long at 2 hours 20min, and doesn’t focus on some of the global
ramifications, but rather a few key personalities. There’s some genuinely fun
moments/edits early on. A good reminder that the old adage holds true – all it
takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
Overall: Not always fun, but really well-made and engaging
Gav’s Rating: 4 stars
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