Jeri Jacquin
Coming to theatres from writer/director James Vanderbilt and Sony Pictures Classics comes the trial that holds those accountable at NUREMBERG.
It is the end of the war in 1945 Europe, and as people begin to find safe places to live, the United States military is keeping watch. Coming down the Austrian road is a car flying the Nazi flag and the soldiers are ready with their weapons. Getting out of the car is the former commander in chief of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe). He makes his presence known with a statue of a man who hasn’t realized that being second in command in Germany now means absolutely nothing.
Also captured were 20 other men like Rudolf Hess and Albert Speer and Col. Burton Andrus (John Slattery) is getting a military set up together at Nuremberg. The goal is that American Robert H. Jackson (Michael Shannon) has called upon allied countries to bring an international tribunal against Hitler’s men. Until the trail begins, the government calls in Lt. Col. Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) to keep an eye on the mental well-being of the prisoners awaiting trial, and especially Göring. Kelley jumps right in with the help of translator Sgt. Triest (Leo Woodall) to see what kind of man Göring is. Almost immediately the truth is clear, Göring is a man who believes he is above it all but does have a soft spot for wife Emmy (Lotte Verbeek) and daughter Edda (Fleur Bremmer) and daughter.
Preparing for the trial, Jackson is also joined by British attorney Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe (Richard E. Grant) as they continue to put together a case that will hold Göring accountable for the camps. Kelley begins spending a great deal of time with the prisoners, especially Göring, to hear what they have to say and get to know them. Trying to understand him, Kelley keeps copious notes trying to unravel what made the men behave in such a brutal and heinous manner, but also thoughts to write a book. He also begins to get a little to close to the personal aspect of Göring’s life.
As the trail begins, Jackson and Maxwell-Fyfe make their statements as Kelley comes to terms with what is happening. Disappointed in the psychiatrist’s performance, Col. Andrus decides it is time to send Kelley home. It is the young Sgt. Triest who has the opportunity to explain why no one has the right to quit until those responsible for the deaths of millions, must be held accountable. All of this happens to let it be known that it cannot happen again!
Academy Award winner Malek as Kelley rushes right into the role wanting to understand what causes such evil by asking “What enabled them to commit the crimes that they did?” Immediately, going in to speak to Göring let Kelley know who he was dealing with. As he and Göring meet again and again, their conversations change tone to an almost friendship-like quality. Malek is caught between two worlds but marches through them both effortlessly. His performance is filled with so much emotion but he keeps it in check as each unique situation arises. Malek gives a performance that should be recognized and applauded.
Academy Award winner Crowe as Göring portrays a man that is loaded with narcissism and doesn’t feel he needs to explain anything to anyone. Of course, his excuse is that he didn’t know what was happening in regards to the camps and that it was under another part of the military. That doesn’t hold water yet Göring maintains his innocence and begins to find a twisted friendship with Kelley. Feeling the weight of being the next in command under Hitler, even the prisoners turn to him during their confinement. Crowe gets a chance to flex his chops once on the stand trying to charm his way into making the tribunal a joke. Once again, Crowe turns in a performance that is stellar and although his accent slips a little at times (I have an ear for that kind of thing), I’m willing to overlook it for the sheer reason that he is stunning to watch.
Academy Award nominee Shannon as Jackson is an American lawyer who wants to find a way to make sure there was a tribunal so that any sentence the men received are lawful. Knowing it is an uphill climb, the pieces are slow in being put together but the pieces are there. There are moments when Shannon’s character begins to feel the weight of what he is doing and yet cannot stop moving forward. I love when Shannon takes on rules like this one where there is so much at stake yet, the character reaches in deep in order to find a way to do what is right for those that are counting on him – and that’s a large amount of people. He is amazing to watch and his stretch with Crowe is a cat and mouse that had me leaning into the film, literally.
Academy Award nominee Grant as Maxwell-Fyfe is the silent lawyer in the room, he listens, takes it all in and when the time is right, he smashes it totally. I considered him the one character that doesn’t fuel up on emotion but simply sees things as they are believing that the truth will surface, even if coming face to face with Göring. Grant always chooses the most interesting roles to play and they aren’t always big roles, he just makes them big. Slattery as Col. Andrus has a lot in common with Grant’s character in that he doesn’t feed off of much emotion (except when being woke up), he takes it in and makes decisions based on what is necessary to get the job done efficiently. Slattery is just a remarkable character actor who can portray just about any character put in front of him.
Woodall as Sgt. Triest is such an awesome character in the film. He is giving us the character of a young man who sees the world exactly as it is because he has a stake in it. Triest watches, listens, and realizes that there is a possibility that things won’t go the way they should – the way we all would think it should. Woodall’s presence in the film is surprising and emotional, well done.
Other cast include Carl Achleitner as the Prison Doctor, Wrenn Schmidt as Elsie, Andreas Pietschmann as Rudolf Hess, Lydia Peckham as Lila, Steven Pacey as General Marshall, Peter Jordan as Karl Donitz, Wolfgang Cerny as Baldur von Schirach, Ralph Berkin as the Cardinal, Mark O’Brien as Col. Amen, and Colin Hanks as Dr. Gustav Gilbert.
NUREMBURG is based on the 2013 book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist by Jack El-Hai. Douglas Kelley himself wrote a book called 22 Cells in Nuremberg and was published in 1947 that contains evaluations, diagnoses and accounts of interactions with the prisoners at Nuremberg. Kelley’s interaction with the trials followed him his entire life.
This is not the first piece about the Nuremburg trials. The first I was aware of was the 1961 film that focused on the trial of German judges and prosecutors who are charged with crimes against humanity. In 2000, the television series Nuremberg touches on Göring but dives even further with Rudolf Hess. In 2015, the BBC premiers a documentary series that reenacts the Nuremberg trials of Speer, Göring and Hess. Having seen all of these, I was very curious to see what director Vanderbilt would bring to the screen as the subject matter can be quite intense.
The director, writer and cast bring together a film that takes a turn that I could not have imagined. The story takes a deep dive into what happened before the trial even began from the perspective of psychiatrist brought in for the prisoners and the lawyers who see the tribunal as a warning to the world. It is Malek and Crowe who give us a look inside Kelley’s psychiatric process and Göring’s inability to grasp his accountability of the death and destruction during the war. Shannon and Grant are characters that are going to make sure that Göring is the first to be put up on the world stage for all to see for his crimes against humanity.
There is nothing pretty in the film, no flower fields or happy faces – the scenes are the darkness of the prison and the destruction outside the doors of the tribunal courtroom. That is a silent character of the film but just as powerful visually representing what happened in Germany beginning in 1933 with the rise of Hitler to the end and the fall in 1945. Keeping the scenes to a few spaces allows the rest of the story to come front and center with no distractions and I appreciated that.
NUREMBERG will most likely be on the list of potential awards as the season approaches and I wouldn’t be surprised if Malek and Crowe make that list as well. You have two Academy Award winners and two Academy Award nominees in this film and every frame shows that. The performances are intense and riveting to watch but, at the same time, shows moments that are disturbing in the thought that it is happening in our own country today. One man makes himself dictator of a country and has a building full of people who tout his destruction and all but salute him for it. As Kelley screams that it can’t be allowed to happen again after the Nuremberg trials, here we are, 80 years later, fighting someone who chooses to hurt people from other countries as well as his own people. He goes against anyone that disagrees with him and attempts to find ways to destroy them – sound familiar?
I absolutely recommend seeing NUREMBERG for a refresher on what happens when people aren’t held accountable and try to understand how it began in the first place. History can and often does repeat itself.
In the end – it should never happen again!
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