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| Rami Malek as DR KELLEY in NUREMBERG |
NUREMBERG covers the events leading up to the first of twelve Nuremberg trials held by the Allies against the Nazi party. Many movie buffs will be most familiar with these trials from watching Stanley Kramer's JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG, which takes place during the third trial, known as the Judges' Trial. Based on the book THE NAZI AND THE PSYCHIATRIST by Jack El-Hai, James Vanderbilt's new film is unique in that it centers the important role that Dr. Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) played in the trials, a figure who has been mostly erased from the narrative in cinematic depiction until now. Curiously, the award-winning 1990 TV miniseries about the Gӧring case, also titled NUREMBERG, only includes psychologist Gustave Gilbert, the professional the military brought in after Kelley (played by Colin Hanks in Vanderbilt's film).
It's the end of World War II, Reichsminister Hermann Gӧring (Russell Crowe) surrenders to a division of the United State Army. The military summons Dr. Douglas Kelley to Nuremberg to assess the mental well-being of 22 patients, Gӧring being the most important. He seems eager to comply, as this may help his personal ambitions of publishing meaningful work, but as his connection with Gӧring and the other prisoners grows, the line between patient, prisoner, and colleague begins to blur. Enchanted at the opportunity to study these fascinating and morally questionable men, Kelley's loyalties to his country are tested. Crowe emulates the sense of charm and power that Gӧring wielded over his colleagues. Kelley and Gӧring's slowly growing mutual understanding ask us to wrestle with a question: can empathy cloud judgment in the pursuit of understanding evil.
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| Russell Crowe as HERMANN GORING in NUREMBERG |
Vanderbilt's adapted script frames the story more like a thriller than a history lesson. We meet Kelley as he travels by train to the titular city, entertaining an attractive passenger with card tricks. Rami Malek brings the cocky, stoic energy to the role, reminiscent of his breakout role as Elliot Alderson in MR. ROBOT. We experience Kelley as quick on his feet, always moving and good under pressure. Early in the film, Gӧring experiences a heart attack. It's Kelley – not the prison physician – who arrives first and talks the Commander through the crisis. In addition to the prisoners, Kelley also forms a camaraderie with the prison translator, Sgt. Howie Trist (Leo Woodall), who becomes a valuable partner and truth-teller when the situation demands. The choice to tell these events with suspense helps viewers feel invested.
While Kelley does his best to keep the prisoners trial-ready, the other half of the cast work to create a solid legal case where none exists. Up until that point, no mechanism existed to try other countries for how they treated their own citizens. The odds are against this team, consisting of Judge Robert Jackson (Michael Shannon), Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe (Richard E. Grant), Colonel John Amen (Mark O'Brien), Elsie Douglas (Wrenn Schmidt). This part of the story dulls in comparison to the Kelley narrative. There isn't much for them to do besides recreate conversations that might have taken place in a boardroom. Things get a little more interesting when Jackson visits the pope to get a blessing for the trials. The pope declines until Jackson calls out the church for signing a treaty with the Naxi party in 1933.
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| Russell Crowe as HERMANN GORING, Andreas Pietschmann as RUDOLF HESS |
Viewers expecting mainly a courtroom drama may be dismayed to discover that almost half the runtime elapses before the trial commences. Inevitably the two threads of the plot converge during the trials when Dr. Kelley's work offers an assist to the achievement of a guilty verdict. This convergence is marked by a pivotal scene during which Kelley and Jackson meet in-person for the first time. Jackson stages their confrontation on-site where the Nuremberg law was first announced, counting on this sensory experience to remind Kelley of the importance of this moment.
History buffs will appreciate the production design team's work recreating the many locations visited during the film, including Camp Ashcan, the hotel converted into a interrogation center, the Nuremberg courtroom, and the Zeppelinfeld parade grounds. Throughout the film, the color turns to black-and-white to indicate we are seeing real or recreated found footage from the actual trial. This serves as a visual cue that we are seeing something that happened in real life.
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| Rami Malek as DR. KELLY, Leo Woodall as HOWIE TRIEST |
At its best the movie clarifies that the two main characters on the Allied side, Jackson and Kelley, are really trying to discover two different questions. Jackson fought to discover how you can put people on trial in a worldwide court between countries with different system of law. Kelley's aim was to answer a more nebulous quandary: What separates the Nazis from other groups? Is there something in the "German water" that made this possible. The movie refuses to answer this question, leaving us to consider the answer.
When the horrors of the concentration camps and the Final Solution came to light, the world at large wanted to believe that this level of depravity could only happen elsewhere. The contempt for the people of Germany prompted everyone to ask, "How could you let this happen?" Gӧring is quick to point out that other countries are just as guilty of horrible crimes. What makes the Nazi version any worse? These questions of national guilt are only explored in the shallowest terms, choosing to stick with the safer route of recounting history. NUREMBERG is destined to become just one of many films on the subject, but it may inspire viewers to learn more about these events and catch up on other adaptations of the Nuremberg Trials.
Release info: In theaters November 7, 2025
Final score: 3 out of 5
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