Nuremberg

New Zealander Russell Crowe takes the lead in reprising the role of the rotund figure of Hermann Goering in the film "Nuremberg".

One of the most senior figures in Hitlers Reich, Goering was considered both astute and charming, if unsurprisingly, conceited. A World War I fighter ace, Goering rose to power alongside Hitler. He surrendered at the end of World War II to the allies and was put on trial, at Nuremberg.

This film is a mixed bag. Historically it takes a lot of liberties and could hardly be called "accurate". Notions of the US "winning the war" are pure fantasy, as is the claim they set the stage for the Nuremberg trials, getting other nations to "play along". In truth, the Soviet Union was the most powerful player at the end of World War II. It had a massive army that controlled much of Europe. Funnily enough, their significant role in dealing with the remnants of the Third Reich after its defeat, is downplayed.

There seems too, to be a emphasis on the trials being driven by a need to address the horrific holocaust against the Jews and other groups. That the trials were, in essence, a rebuttal of "anti-Semetism". This is also not especially accurate. The Allies were mostly concerned at that time, with dismantling the remnants of Nazi-ism, placating Stalin, who they not unreasonably feared, might invade all of Europe and imposing some semblance of stability upon the region.

The trials went some way to address the Soviet Unions rage at what Hitler had done to Russia and other regions of the USSR, discredited and removed the key Nazi's still remaining in Germany, whilst providing a bargaining chip with Stalin, so the allies could keep a foot hold in Europe. Yes the Holocaust did play a limited part, in so much as it demonstrated the crimes of the Third Reich and helped condemn its leaders. Its worth noting for anyone doubting this reviewers cynical but honest, take on things, key Nazi scientists, who had used Jewish and other nations people as s...

Rather than attempt to reimagine the excellent 1961 “Judgement at Nuremberg”, this fact-based drama focuses more on events prior to that; those that see the allied judiciary seek to get into the mind of the recently incarcerated Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe). To do that, the Americans draft in psychiatrist Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) who has quite an unorthodox methodology when it comes to his patients. He knows that his quarry is shrewd, sophisticated and that he is no pushover, but in order for himself to deliver the characterisation his bosses want for public consumption, he is going to have to deftly acquire this man’s confidence. Those sensitivities are largely born out of a concern that the Allies have no authority to try anyone for anything. There was no such thing as international law in 1946. Who were the Americans or the Brits to retrospectively reassess the behaviour of free thinking and acting German citizenry in their own country when they were acting as a direct result of a democratic election? It is therefore essential that Kelley is able to provide overwhelming proof that Göring and his cohort were actively complicit in the Holocaust. Set against a backdrop of a ruined nation and with occupying forces who were war-weary and already mistrusting in some quarters, it was even more crucial that agreement was reached with the Soviets too. Now on the more international scale, this doesn’t work quite so well. The dynamic is very much led by the Americans via their supreme court justice Robert Jackson (Michael Shannon) with some support from Briton Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe (Richard E. Grant) but neither French nor Soviet jurists feature at all here. That’s a shame, but it still doesn’t impact too much on the concentrated focus on the emerging and complex relationship between Kelley and Göring - and both Malek and Crowe present strongly as their intellectual cat and mouse game plays out. Leo Woodall’s role as Sgt. Howie Triest is periodically important, especi...

Itʼs widely maintained that those who don’t learn from history are destined to repeat it (despite the fact, unfortunately, that we also all too often disregard such sage advice). But, if there’s any message to be taken away from this latest offering from writer-director James Vanderbilt, this would be it, especially given the prevailing sociopolitical climate. This engaging historical drama/psychological thriller serves up a potent cautionary tale about the need to recognize, embrace and take seriously the lessons to come out of the Nuremberg trials in which former Nazis were prosecuted for crimes against humanity in the wake of World War II, the first time proceedings of this kind were ever conducted (however, viewers should note that this is not a remake of the 1961 iconic movie classic “Judgment at Nuremberg”). Specifically, the film follows the efforts of US Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson (Michael Shannon) to convene an international tribunal for this purpose, one consisting of judicial representatives from the Allied Forces of the US, the UK, France and the USSR. In the first of what would become a series of 12 trials, the tribunal prosecutes 22 Nazi defendants, including Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe), second in command to deceased Führer Adolf Hitler. Göring’s capture at the end of the war represents a major coup for the Allies in their quest to secure justice, but, to assure his competency to stand trial, the US military assigns psychiatrist Dr. Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) to evaluate his mental state, a process that accounts for much of the film’s narrative (based on author Jack El-Hai’s 2013 nonfiction title, The Nazi and the Psychiatrist). It’s a process that ultimately proves to be quite personal as well as professional, with some surprisingly fascinating revelations emerging from the duo’s intense and occasionally intimate dialogues. But, as becomes apparent, the picture also sheds a chilling light on the narcissistic and sociopath...

Boring boring boring. You can tell a lot about this movie just by how it treats women. They're only there to play the love interests, the only exception being the supreme court justice's wife in the very beginning but even she only serves as a way for her husband to seemingly outwit her with his ideas. Other than that, the movie is manipulative, incredibly boring, cheap and Crowe's German is awful. Better to just rewatch The Schindler's List if you want to enjoy a good WW2 movie. This was just so boring. Again, b o r i n g.