Plot
On 7 May 1945, one day before Nazi Germany surrenders to the Allies, Reichsmarshall Hermann Göring, Hitler's former second-in-command, surrenders with his family to U.S. forces in Austria. At the same time, Associate Justice Robert Jackson is informed of Göring's arrest, which prompts a discussion with his secretary, Elsie Douglas, about establishing an international tribunal to charge the surviving Nazi leadership with war crimes. Douglas is conservative, noting that such potential action has no legally-established international precedent; however, Jackson is enthusiastic, envisioning the tribunal as an opportunity of establishing one. Initially, the U.S. is reluctant to support Jackson's plans in favor of summary executions, however, Jackson persists by winning the support of Pope Pius XII by implying his knowledge of the latter's controversial relationship with the Nazi regime.
Elsewhere, U.S. Army psychiatrist Lt Col. Douglas Kelley is summoned to Bad Mondorf, Luxembourg, to evaluate the mental health of 22 Nazi leaders under Allied custody, including Göring, who have been selected for prosecution. Reporting to the warden, Col. Burton Andrus, Kelley begins his assignment with the assistance of interpreter Sergeant Howard Triest. Initital meetings with Göring are civil, however other prisoners such as Robert Ley and Julius Streicher react with contempt. Personally, Kelley appraises Göring as intelligent yet highly narcissistic, and plans to use his notes of those interactions to write a tell-all book for personal profit.
In due course, Jackson and British barrister Sir David Maxwell Fyfe are made prosecuting counsels for the newly-established International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany, which in turn charges the detainees with crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity and conspiracy. In the lead up to the trial, Kelley and Göring interact warmly, with Göring going so far as to helping Kelley examine former-Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess, in exchange for being allowed to write to his wife Emmy and daughter Edda. Kelley also develops a rapport with them, acting as a courier between them and Göring. In private, Kelley is approached by Jackson to report the prisoners' legal defense to him in order to shape the prosecution.
Before the trial can commence, Ley commits suicide by strangling himself in his cell, leading Andrus to summon psychologist Gustave Gilbert to provide a second opinion. At the trial's beginning, Jackson delivers a strong opening statement highlighting the need for accountability, while Göring is silenced and instead ordered to enter a plea; he and the other prisoners plead not guilty. During adjournments, Kelley learns that Göring's family had been arrested in connection with his reported art thefts and requests Andrus to intervene; Göring later learns of the development from Gilbert.
When the trial recommences, the prosecution shows footage displaying the regime's atrocities committed inside its concentration camps, causing an upset Kelley to confront Göring, who had previously denied any knowledge of such actions. Göring stands by his unawareness, and resorts towards denying the atrocities or comparing them with alleged crimes committed by the Allies. Dismayed, Kelley proceeds to get drunk and unwittingly reveals his private discussions with Göring to Lila, a journalist with The Boston Globe , who subsequently publishes the information. Infuriated, Andrus relieves Kelley and orders him out, but not before revealing that he was able to get Emmy and Edda released. While leaving, Triest reveals to Kelley that he is a German-born Jew, and that while his younger sister was able to escape to Switzerland, his parents were executed by the Nazis in 1942.
Triest warns that the regime's cruelty was unchallenged because of a general impassivity towards evil, which compels Kelley to stay and instead submit all his private notes on Göring to Jackson and Fyfe, predicting that Göring plans to use the trial to defend the regime's conduct. Correct to his predictions, Göring is able to evade Jackson's cross-examination, and proceeds to declare that his decree of the Final Solution was actually intended as a complete solution focused on the emigration of Germany's Jews rather than extermination. In turn, Jackson's ire towards Göring earns him a stern rebuke by the tribunal, which prompts Fyfe to take over. Fyfe exploits Göring's vanity and goads him into overtly admitting his continued loyalty to Hitler, which finally corners him. At the trial's conclusion, Göring is sentenced to death by hanging.
Kelley pays Göring a final visit before leaving, where he comes to terms with Göring's true nature. On 15 October 1946, the night before his scheduled execution, Göring commits suicide by ingesting cyanide, much to Andrus' anger. The remaining executions proceed as scheduled, with Streicher suffering a nervous breakdown. Triest, who had yearned to reveal his Jewish heritage to Streicher before his execution, is instead compelled to gently assist him to the gallows. The execution goes poorly, with Streicher having to be weighed down on the noose to die.
Kelley, traumatized by his experiences at Nuremberg, returns to the U.S. and publishes his tell-all, 22 Cells in Nuremberg, which he has trouble promoting. The film's intertitles reveal that Kelley resorted to alcoholism and spent the rest of his life in vain warning about the possibility of a future regime parallel to the Nazis, before committing suicide in 1958 by ingesting cyanide; Triest managed to reunite with his sister; while Jackson's prosecutorial efforts at Nuremberg laid the foundation for international prosecution of war crimes.
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 71% of 195 critics' reviews are positive.The website's consensus reads: "Driven by a commanding performance from Russell Crowe, Nuremberg is a handsomely crafted historical drama, but its measured pacing and emotional restraint keep it from fully realizing the complexity of its subject." [14] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 61 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. [15]
Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave the film three out of four stars, writing, "It's a solid film of [a] kind that used to be more common: an earnest, unpretentious Oscar Movie that wants to be seen by everyone, and consequently doesn't try to be too complex or arty. It wants to educate and inspire as well as entertain, and isn't shy about that ambition." [16]
Writing for The Daily Beast , Nick Schrager found the film to be flawed in spite of the star actors in the film, and critiqued Vanderbilt's direction by stating, "Nuremberg is constructed like an old-fashioned awards-bait period piece, complete with trailer-ready lines of dialogue that put a neat-and-tidy button on scenes. There's a mechanical quality to Vanderbilt's plotting that negates the unexpected and enlightening." [17]
In a review for The Guardian , Peter Bradshaw rated the film two out of five stars, noting: "All of these actors do their best, but the figure of Kelley himself is a ridiculous cartoon." [18] He cited Rami Malek's performance as "deeply silly." Katie Walsh of the Los Angeles Times described the film as "well-intentioned and elucidating despite some missteps." [19]
