Nuremberg (2025) Review!!

Synopsis – A WWII psychiatrist evaluates Nazi leaders before the Nuremberg trials, growing increasingly obsessed with understanding evil as he forms a disturbing bond with Hermann Göring.

My Take – Every year has to see the release of a WWII film, though they often claim to tell heroic stories that have not been told before, they are also often accused of prodding an audience into a guttural level of emotional angst and discomfort.

Thankfully, that is not the case of this sophomore directorial effort from James Vanderbilt, who initially gained fame of his penmanship on Zodiac (2007), but has since been more involved in blockbuster material like The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), White House Down (2013), the Adam Sandler-Jennifer Aniston Murder Mystery comedies and the new Scream installments.

Mainly, as the historical drama focused on the ‘Nuremberg Trials’ positions itself as a behind-the-scenes look at how a group of nations and lawyers made a conscious effort to publicize and coordinate an international trial to publicly condemn and hold accountability for the surviving top-ranking German officials, all the while getting into the psychological mindsets of the top of the most evil regime in modern history.

Drawing mostly from writer Jack El-Hai’s 2013 non-fiction book ‘The Nazi and the Psychiatrist’, and starring Russell Crowe as the portly and pompous Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, the resulting film isn’t the first, nor the best film about the subject, I guess that’d be filmmaker Stanley Kramer’s tremendous Judgment At Nuremberg (1961), but it tackles familiar material with an intriguing new angle by showing us what seemed like the most obvious and important event in history was actually a hard-fought battle to get there. And by adding the psychological elements into the mix, we have in hand a worthy addition to the canon of films about one of the world’s greatest tragedies.

Sure, it lacks the cinematic flair to hit harder, but what could’ve been a basic recreation of a historical event turned out to be an introspective look at how, under the right conditions, evil can fester below the surface until it’s too late. Most surprisingly, it even ended up emphasizing that there is likely a seedy underbelly in every country as well, without beating the audience over the head to take up immediate action.

Beginning at the end of World War II following the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany, the story follows United States Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson (Michael Shannon), who upon hearing the news of the arrest of Nazi second-in-command Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe), plans to charge the surviving top Nazi leaders with war crimes.

But since there was no international law of that level to charge them on, the prosecution would be setting a precedent for any future war crimes of that level. He takes a leave of absence from the Supreme Court and meets with Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe (Richard E. Grant) and Colonel John Amen (Mark O’Brien) to begin their strategy for the trial in front of an International Military Tribunal consisting of their Allies.

Meanwhile, Douglas Kelly (Rami Malek), a US military psychiatrist, is transferred from his current post to the prison to evaluate the mental stability of the imprisoned Nazi leadership and to ensure they don’t kill themselves before they can stand trial. A task he feels would make great material for a book that can leave a lasting impression on the world and he’ll have a bestseller on his hands. Only to find himself becomes emotionally enmeshed with Göring, who, despite his evil actions, is a smart and charming man. Setting up a battle of wit between some of the greatest minds at the time, evil and good.

As for a film of this aspect, the production and costume designs look solid, since they recreated real places and clothes that have been documented in detail. The bulk of the film revolves around the cat-and-mouse game Kelly and Göring play, as Kelly must gain Göring’s trust and learn how much he knew about the implementation of concentration camps.

Through the narrative of the film, the relationship between Douglas Kelly and Hermann Göring unfolds with an unnerving intimacy. Meanwhile, Jackson and his colleagues work around the clock to rebuild a destroyed courthouse and build a first-of-its-kind case involving numerous countries, aiming to condemn the atrocities of the past to move forward. What distinguishes writer-director Vanderbilt’s film is how it allows space for reflection and silence to accumulate these horrific events. Though the screenplay has a surprising sense of humor, director Vanderbilt is careful to give the weighty material the respect and space it deserves.

Something that’s particularly evident in the film’s most harrowing scene when the horrifying footage of the Holocaust is shown in the trial for the first time. While the trial is rooted in being less thrilling and more straightforward, the emotional impact of these images punctuates the importance of holding these figures accountable.

One of the central questions Kelly poses to Jackson is why have this spectacle of a trial when shooting these criminals is far easier or letting them kill themselves in jail, as several attempt to do. Jackson responds that it’s far easier to kill them and make them martyrs without any historical accountability or record as to who they are, and the only way to prevent another conflict is to glue the world to the horrors of what’s happened.

It’s a noble goal, and resonates with an immediacy that speaks directly to the present. Its implications, both moral and political extend far beyond its setting. The film reminds us of how the architecture of evil and the pathology of evil still remain relevant to this day.

Performance wise, Russell Crowe’s carefully calculated combination of righteousness, fury and narcissism makes for an especially complex and frightening turn. He’s great as the brilliant sociopathic Reichmarshall. Rami Malek’s natural manic energy is well put to use as Douglas Kelly. He embodies the charismatic precision of Douglas yet wonderfully masks the profound internal conflicts. Michael Shannon is excellent throughout, although his temperament was dry as can be, which led to a few humorous moments.

Richard E. Grant is electrifying, especially when he delivers the final blow to Göring. Surprisingly, it’s Leo Woodall as the translator Howie Triest who walks away with the film, delivering a shattering monologue that won’t leave a dry eye in the house. In supporting turns, John Slattery, Mark O’Brien, Wrenn Schmidt, Lotte Verbeek, Colin Hanks and Lydia Peckham are uniformly impressive. On the whole, ‘Nuremberg‘ is an ambitious & compelling historical procedural elevated by Russell Crowe’s performance.