Introduction to Nuremberg
“Nuremberg” used to be an Oscar film. Or, less charitably, "Oscar bait": Director James Vanderbilt’s new film, which opens Friday, deals with a subject of immense historical significance: the trial of Nazi leader Hermann Göring in Nuremberg; casts Oscar winners Russell Crowe and Rami Malek, who give big, showy performances; and throws money at the screen to create a sophisticated and respectable piece of cinema.
The Film’s Plot
Unlike previous films about the high-stakes trial, Vanderbilt’s film is not a courtroom drama but a psychological thriller based on Jack El-Hai’s nonfiction book "The Nazi and the Psychiatrist." “Nuremberg” focuses on the interviews between Göring (Crowe) – commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe and the second most powerful man in the Reich after Hitler – and army psychologist Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Kelley (Malek), who must determine whether the Nazi leader is mentally fit to stand trial.
The Theme of the Film
Kelley is young, ambitious and fascinated by the nature of evil. “What if we could dissect evil?” he asks early. “What makes the Germans different from us?”
Spoiler alert: not much.
In his own book, "22 Cells in Nuremberg," Kelley concluded that the Nazis on trial, including Göring, were ordinary men – perhaps ambitious and cruel narcissists, but not psychopaths – and warned that the capacity for Nazi-level evil was not only present in Germany, but was present in every society, including America’s.
This is the core of Vanderbilt’s argument, the existential warning that pulses through “Nuremberg.”
The Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials took place from November 20, 1945 to October 1, 1946, when the Allies prosecuted 22 of the top surviving Nazi leaders as well as six German organizations.
It has been 80 years since the Nuremberg Tribunal laid down the principles of international law, along with the concept – although not always the reality – that crimes against humanity do not go unpunished.
But the memory of that moment has faded, as have the lessons supposedly learned from World War II and the Holocaust. The slogans, symbols and ideologies of Nazism are back with a vengeance, being embraced by the far right across Europe, the United States and beyond. The call to “Never again” is more urgent than ever.
The Impact of the Film
A film that reminds viewers that we’ve been down this road before and knows where it leads seems like a worthwhile endeavor.
But the impact of “Nuremberg” is strangely hollow. This is a piece of glossy entertainment that is more show than test.
The theme of Nuremberg has lost none of its urgency, but Vanderbilt’s film feels old-fashioned in the worst way – a prestige film that skirts rather than confronts its own conclusions.
The Production of the Film
Vanderbilt’s Göring is never an ordinary, monstrous person, but always larger than life. How could he be different, played by Russell “Gladiator” Crowe?
Still, the acting in “Nuremberg” is great – especially Crowe as the portly, clever Göring, whose every joke and aside is designed for strategic effect. The arguments in the interrogation room and in the courtroom are sharply staged. The production design is as sophisticated as you would expect from a prestige Hollywood release.
But the film’s splendor clashes with the horror it depicts. The director wants to make a film about moral arithmetic, but settles for a film about performance: Göring’s for the court, the actors for the camera, Hollywood’s for his conscience.
The Use of Real Images
At a crucial point, prosecutors present recordings from concentration camps; Vanderbilt chooses to show the real images. But rather than anchoring the film in gravity, the scenes of mutilated, mutilated and emaciated bodies only emphasize how mannered and artificial everything around them feels.
It’s the opposite effect of Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar-winning film "The Zone of Interest," whose ordinary, undramatic staging – shot in natural light, from a distance, with no score – heightens the banal monstrosity of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss.
Conclusion
The spectacle at the center of “Nuremberg” seems all the more hollow given the state of international law. In the end, we are supposed to celebrate the triumph of justice, but the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the successor to Nuremberg, has done little to prevent modern atrocities like those in Ukraine and Gaza.
What made Kramer’s Judgment at Nuremberg so enduring was its willingness to engage not only the Germans but also the audience who were watching.
This is missing from “Nuremberg”: Vanderbilt points out this danger – “What makes them different from us?” – but retreats into the security of the decency of the time. The result is a film about evil that’s too carefully lit to get its hands dirty.
Ultimately, “Nuremberg” fails not because of a lack of craftsmanship, but because of a lack of conviction. The questions this raises about accountability, complicity and the fragility of international justice could not be more urgent. But for all its elegance and power, the film never escapes the courtroom. It restores history without really reckoning with it.
