‘Why does my historical drama about the Nuremberg Trials have the writing of a Marvel film?’ I thought and when the credits rolled around I realised why – it is written by the same man of The Amazing Spider-Man films.
- Director – James Vanderbilt
- Runtime – 148 minutes
- Certificate – 15
- Country – United States
The film follows Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) a psychiatrist who is hired to assess the mental condition of Nazi prisoners and whether they are fit to go on trial which ends him up in a cat and mouse like game with Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe).
The biggest issue I have with the film is that it all felt a bit too dramatised, I mean one of the first lines of dialogue is an allied soldier saying something along the lines of “Holy shit, it’s Hermann Göring, Hitler’s second man.” Not only is that very over the top but it’s also incredibly expository.
These kind of moments happen consistently from John Slattery’s Burton C. Andrus saying “welcome to Nuremberg” to Rudolph Hess being introduced like the next big villain in a marvel film.
By the time we get to the actual trials it becomes fully dramatised and gets lost within itself by being more about catching Göring out rather than understanding why. Not only is it dramatised, but there is still weirdly, a sense of humour. Given how sensitive the topic is, you can imagine how awkward the jokes were and yet I found myself chuckling at a few.
There is a turning point in the film during the trial where they show real footage of what happened in the concentration camps, and it is harrowing. Russell Crowe’s Göring at this time puts on blacked out sunglasses and headphones. To me this was meant to represent hear no evil and see evil, and I thought that was a really good scene.
Again, the writing is so on the nose and full of exposition. In a way this is good as it makes for the film to be more accessible to a wider audience, but when the film purposefully ignores certain aspects, it seems more counterintuitive than anything.
The main thing they ignore is the Treaty of Versailles, sure they mention it a couple of times, but it is quickly glossed over and when Malek’s Douglas Kelley is meant to be finding out why they were evil that reason isn’t really brought up. It is weird though, because at times the characters will explain events but other times they rely on you having prior knowledge. For example again, the Treaty of Versailles. When it’s brought up in the trial, the issue of lost land is mentioned but nothing is actually said about it.
The film does actually attempt to say something on international laws and jurisdiction and the overall hypocrisy of the actual Nuremberg Trial. The message it tries to get across is definitely important, but when the film is in favour of those laws and trying to say that the trials were only held to give a legitimacy for the executions its message really gets drowned out.
The film is fortunate enough to have a stacked ensemble who all deliver great performances. I was surprised to see that many didn’t like Malek’s but I thought he wasn’t actually that bad. Crowe as Göring is obviously the stand out slipping away into such a sinister role.
Nuremberg attempts to be a historical courtroom drama, but due to its cheesy direction and script, it comes off as over dramatic stumbling over its own message but is fortunately anchored by its great cast and their performances.
Nuremberg is now showing at Lockworks Cinema.