SPOILER-FREE PLOT SUMMARY
With Adolf Hitler dead, Supreme Commander of the Air Force Hermann Göring (played by Russell Crowe) is the highest-ranking government leader of Nazi Germany. Curiously, he purposely drives into a crowd of allied soldiers and surrenders. Once in prison, Göring meets Dr. Douglas Kennedy (Rami Malek), an American psychologist assigned to ensure Göring is both physically and mentally healthy enough to stand trail. Meanwhile, Dr. Kennedy finds himself getting closer to Göring than anyone from the West ever has and, in an attempt to remove any doubt about his loyalty, the doctor ends up making multiple visits to Göring’s wife and daughter in order to exchange letters. Knowing they can’t have anything other than a landslide guilty decision in the end, United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Robert Jackson (Michael Shannon) asks Dr. Kennedy to violate his doctor-patient privilege by helping him prepare for Göring’s defense strategy. Conflicted by his professional oath, his patriotic duty and the trust he’s built with Göring, Dr. Kennedy’s decision may just dictate how history views this actions of the Nazi party.
SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
Based on the book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist by Jack El-Hai, NUREMBERG is the true story of the infamous Nuremberg Trials where multiple countries united as one to put Nazi war criminals on trial in order to hold them responsible for the atrocities of World War II.
Yes, it’s powerful. Yes, it’s well made. Yes, it’s important. But the main takeaway is that Russell Crowe deserve Oscar consideration. His character is an evil monster yet Crowe manages to make him almost human. From his budding friendship with Dr. Kennedy to his desire to get a simple message to his wife, Crowe slowly breaks down the audience and forces them into a borderline sympathetic state. It’s all a chess game by Göring, of course, but that requires even more skill to pull off on screen.
And then there’s his commitment to German. Crowe and director James Vanderbilt elected not to take the creative-yet-easy way out where, early in the film, German dissolves into English. Sean Connery did this in HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER and Tom Cruise did this in VALKYRIE (just to name a few) but Crowe spends probably the first 20 minutes of the movie speaking German. Fully on camera, by the way, masked by little-to-no ADR. It’s only when his character wants to make a connection with the psychologist does he offer to speak English “if it would be easier,” furthering his game of chess with the doctor.
There are a few questionable moments such as a Nazi prisoner getting out of a car only to stand and look around dramatically so they can get an establishing shot or by completely ignoring the fact that psychology was a new field at the time and, therefore, was discounted as a pseudo-science by the general public (and a laughable profession by hard-lined military men). Despite those elements, Vanderbilt does begin to build some caché with NUREMBERG. His re-creation of archival footage in order to keep actor portrayal continuity didn’t just stop at era-appropriate black and white and era-appropriate aspect ratio. He went the extra mile by matching the era-appropriate frame rate as well. It’s those little things that most audiences won’t pick up on but help the subconscious stay “in the moment.”
While it doesn’t shy away from making parallels between the Nazis and our current political leaders, and there’s a strong — and I do mean strong — resemblance to A FEW GOOD MEN in the climactic court scene finale, Crowe’s award-worthy performance is reason enough to go see NUREMBERG. He’s won a Best Actor statue before, he’s been nominated for two others and it shouldn’t shock anyone if a fourth nomination is on its way.
JKG SCORE: 8.0
Untitled Film Project 