It has been exactly 80 years since the infamous Nuremberg tribunal established international law and put the Nazis on trial for unspeakable evil acts in war. It has been the subject of a landmark 1961 movie from Stanley Kramer, Judgment at Nuremberg, which was nominated for 11 Oscars and won two, as well as TV productions both before that and after. And now comes Nuremberg, being released in the same month that tribunal happened on November 21, 1945. But if you think you have seen it, think again.
This is a fascinating and urgently important story that has not been told on film before, and we have screenwriter and director James Vanderbilt (Zodiac, Truth) to thank, as well as author Jack El-Hai whose book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist served as source material. So is this yet another courtroom drama? Yes and no. There is plenty of drama in this courtroom, indeed, but it is the questions at its core and the central cat-and-mouse game between former Reichsmarschall and Hitler’s No. 2 Hermann Goring (Russell Crowe) and Army psychologist Lt. Col. Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) that grab the spotlight and let us into the Nazi psyche like never before. These two Oscar-winning actors go toe to toe in a thrilling chess match between a magician and psychiatrist (Kelley loved magic) and a narcissist who thought he could outwit an entire international court. But in Vanderbilt’s hands this isn’t the whole story in an unusual scenario that doesn’t rely on a three-act structure but manages to paint a bigger picture focusing on just a few participants in this monumental event that shaped a new international order of law.
It also turns out to be incredibly relevant for now, as parts of the globe (including America) are once again embracing Nazism, despicable war crimes are still being perpetrated, and the lessons of World War II fade increasingly into the background and history books despite warnings that it has all happened before — and it may be happening again. I can think of a few world leaders who should screen this movie as soon as possible.
The whole Nuremberg tribunal was a gambit at first, a new experiment that came together after Hitler’s suicide and the end of the war. It was the product of four major countries — the U.S., UK, France and the Soviet Union — as well as 15 other allies with the idea of getting justice for the atrocities of the Third Reich. But not all were on the same page, The U.S. wanted a trial, the Soviets wanted one with the outcome already decided, the UK wanted to execute the 20 or so Nazi defendants on the spot. However, craftily putting it all together was U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson (Michael Shannon), whose efforts as Chief U.S. Prosecutor to truly bring justice in this new idea are extraordinary, considering what he was up against. He played a key role, as did eventually his British counterpart David Maxwell-Fyfe (Richard E. Grant), in the ultimate outcome.
But it is the several sessions between Kelley and Goring in the tight quarters of the Nuremberg prison where these disgraced defendants were that truly mesmerize (Goring was the unquestioned leader of the pack), with Kelley using every trick of his profession to get into the mind of Goring, who could smoothly use his wits, even charm, but also denialism to evade what is being thrown against him. Goring had a unique background and rose in the ranks as a fighter pilot and close confidante to Hitler, all the while steadfast in his denial of any Nazi atrocities or Holocaust. And he clearly believed he could stand trial and skip the penalty. Although Kelley interviews several of his cohorts, it was Goring who would be the lynchpin of the whole case.
Complications arise amid Kelley’s conclusions that these were not necessarily born monsters or evil personified but ordinary men who got caught up in a world of evil and who simply endorsed what they all were doing in the name of Nazi Germany. Kelley is chastised and eventually replaced by Gustave Gilbert (Colin Hanks), a rival psychologist with a different take, one that opposes Kelley’s more humanistic approach in defining the horrors of that time. But is Kelley finished? Not quite.
The actual courtroom part of it manages to be a remarkable feat of filmmaking and acting, employing four cameras and few cuts in order to get the impact of the trial that is presented like it is unfolding at the moment, even with a real twist in the case. Most effective however is Vanderbilt’s decision to stop the action and simply run the devastating real black-and-white film footage of the slaughter of Jews in the concentration camps. It is unrelenting, played for several minutes in pure silence, and enormously effective. It unquestionably adds raw power to the trial and the movie. Gut wrenching doesn’t begin to describe it.
Among others in the cast, a true standout is Sgt. Howie Treist, played unforgettably by Leo Woodall as the German Jewish émigré who fled the Nazis as a boy, only to return to Europe in a U.S. Army uniform to be an interpreter for Kelley. His later monologue, recounting the loss of his own loved ones and the toll it took, is truly moving and beautifully delivered by Woodall. Others offering fine support include John Slattery’s stern Burton C. Andrus, who runs the Nuremberg prison with an iron fist, and Mark O’Brien’s Col. John Amen as the interrogator-in-chief.
But dominating the film are the stunning performances of Crowe, truly immersing himself in one of his best, if most difficult, roles as the duplicitous Goring, and Malek, whose Kelley is the unsung hero of it all even though ultimately it took the greatest toll on his own life in the years after. A big shout-out to the always terrific Shannon, who here gets to play a truly dignified and heroic figure and a man who also lost great personal opportunities in taking on this impossible feat.
The truly chilling takeaway now 80 years later though is just how pertinent Kelley’s warning really is, but it as if he was shouting into a hurricane later in his life, completely dismissed. However if we didn’t want to hear it while he was alive, thanks to Vanderbilt’s brilliantly constructed and immensely important film, hopefully for god’s sake we hear it now.
Producers are Richard Saperstein, Bradley J. Fischer, Vanderbilt, Frank Smith, William Sherak, Cherilyn Hawrysh, Benjamin Tappan, István Major, and George Freeman.
Title: Nuremberg
Festival: Toronto (Gala Presentations)
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Release date: November 7, 2025
Director-screenwriter: James Vanderbilt
Cast: Rami Malek, Russell Crowe, Michael Shannon, Leo Woodall, Richard E. Grant, Colin Hanks, Mark O’Brien, John Slattery
Rating: PG-13
Running time: 2 hr 28 mins
