Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Stars: Russell Crowe (Hermann Goring), Rami Malek (Douglas Kelley), Michael Shannon (Robert H. Jackson), Lotte Verbeek (Emmy Goring) and Andreas Pietschmann (Rudolf Hess).
Director/Scriptwriter: James Vanderbilt (based on the book “The Nazi and the Psychiatrist” by Jack ElpHai
Composer: Brian Tyler
Cinematography: Darisz Wolski
Walden Media/Sony Pictures Classics
Rating: PG 13 for scenes of violence
Running Length: 148 Minutes
Russell Crowe is a versatile actor. From “Robin Hood” to “Gladiator” and now to “Nuremberg,” he changes characters with ease. In the latest film, he plays Hermann Goring, a top leader in the Nazi regime, and now on trial for war crimes. However, as you will see, according to Goring, the term “war crimes” is debatable. The person selected to interview Goring is Douglas Kelley (played by Rami Malek), an army psychiatrist. And now, at the end of WWII, the battle of wits in Europe begins.
It is the end of WWII and the Germany Army has surrendered. Those accused of war crimes---and there are many accused and many crimes---are on trial in Nuremberg, Germany. A U.S. Supreme Court Judge Robert Jackson (Michael Shannon) leads the proceedings. He selects a psychiatrist, Douglas Kelley (Malek) to interview Hermann Goring (Crowe), and Kelley thinks he may have the makings of a book here. Now comes the cat-and-mouse game between the prisoner and the psychiatrist. How to get into the mind of an individual who ordered the killings of literally millions of people. Goring says he organized labor camps but the death orders came from Heinrich Himmler, instead. In other words, Goring puts himself as an innocent bystander. Or is this a sham on the part of the prisoner? While this is going on, Goring’s wife and daughter are separated and moved to different locations. The actual trial looms closer, and as it does, what to believe? The audience will know what the outcome is, but “Nurenberg” is how the outcome was reached.
Technicalities are abundant and this is a first-time for everyone as far as even defining the term “war crimes.” A gunshot during a war is not a crime, but what about starvation, gas chambers and crematoriums. New language, new definitions and new rules. War really is hell.
The acting in “Nuremberg” is quite good from Russell Crowe’s narcissist Herman Goring to Rami Malek’s inquisitive Kelley. All against the background of a war that never should have been. Malek plays Kelley as a listener while Goring speaks of his part in the war. Gaining insight into another person’s mind is like walking a tightrope over Niagara Falls on a windy day. Both actors balance each other. Goring states that “…American bombs kill people…. you vaporize a hundred thousand Japanese citizens by touching a switch and you want judgment for me for war crimes?”
“Nuremberg” brings back the trials of the 1950’s and the formation in later years of an International Court for War Crimes. If you got your hands dirty during wartime, beware, when the war is finished, the run-away part has just begun and a life of secrecy is your road to the end. I think Oscar may be calling for Russell Crowe’s interpretation of Hermann Goring. Some don’t get away.
Copyright 2026 Marie Asner
