Horrors and Human Justice

The movie Nuremberg is set in the aftermath of World War II, when high ranking Nazi officials had been taken into custody by Allied forces. The prisoners were a mixture of senior military officers, government ministers and provincial governors. All had, whether directly or indirectly, participated in the Endlosung, or “Final Solution,” the systematic transportation and murder of six million Jews, gypsies, and others. 

This was a crime beyond the normal rules of engagement. The question was, what to do? “If we just shoot these men, we make them martyrs,” explains Justice Robert Jackson (Michael Shannon). “I’m not going to let that happen.”A military tribunal was therefore convened, where Nazi leaders could be prosecuted under the law. Jackson was appointed as the Americans’ chief prosecutor.

In Nuremberg, the trial provides a context for what is essentially a psychological drama, focusing primarily on the relationship between the American psychologist Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) and the most senior German officer, Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe). Kelley befriends Göring in order to find out what makes him tick. Rather naïvely, Kelley believes that if he can understand his prisoner, he will be able to “prevent all this from happening again.”

The interplay between Kelley and Göring is fascinating to watch. Crowe wonderfully conveys the vanity, cunning and charisma (and bulk) of the Reich Marshal. Malek as Doctor Kelley is ambivalent - as the audience is - about their friendship. Each man’s vulnerabilities are attractive to the other and both use the other. Kelley both helps and betrays Göring, who understands his American friend better than Kelley does himself. 

It is over an hour into the movie before the action moves to the courtroom. Along the way we are introduced to some of the other prisoners, including the odious Nazi publisher Julius Streicher (Dieter Riesle) and the child-like Rudolf Hess (Andreas Pietschmann). There is a short and unconvincing romantic subplot involving a newspaper reporter. One of the best characters is the translator Sgt Howie Triest (Leo Woodall). His scene toward the end of the movie is a highlight: an extraordinary example of human sympathy.

Chief prosecutor Justice Jackson provides the moral center of the movie. Early on there is a scene at the Vatican between Jackson and Pope Pius XII. Jackson accuses the Catholic Church of inaction against the Nazis in the 1930s. “What do you believe in?” asks the Pope. “I believe in man,” replies Jackson. We are to understand that the Nuremberg trial is about human, not divine justice. (In fact, the Pope supported the trial but asked that those found guilty be spared the death penalty).

The movie reaches a turning point when film of the death camps is screened as evidence. Whatever sympathy one felt for the Nazi protagonists beforehand is tempered by the stomach-churning footage. The long campaign of words and legal action against the Jews reaches its deadly culmination in genocide.

Director James Vanderbilt has written and crafted an exceptional movie. Despite the two hours and 28 minutes length, Nuremberg is gripping throughout. Its arrival is timely, as anti-semitism today takes root on both sides of our political spectrum. As to the causes of anti-semitism, Vanderbilt commendably leaves that up to the viewer. In a recent interview, he shared this advice from a fellow filmmaker: “good movies make you ask questions, and bad movies give you all the answers.”