Actors Rami Malek and Russell Crowe star in Nuremberg which is a story about the Nuremberg trials. This is a true story which is adapted from history. It’s an account of some of the events that happened leading up to and at the trials. Rami Malek plays a U.S. Army psychiatrist who begins a very unusual relationship with German war criminal Herman Göring, portrayed by the legendary Russell Crowe. Leo Woodall and Michael Shannon are also in the film.
A Psychological Cat-and-Mouse Thriller
The core of the film is a cat-and-mouse game between the characters. It’s a back-and-forth which plays on the idea of manipulation. Is one person manipulating the other, or is one person thinking they are? The movie is based on a true story and the people in it are based on the real psychiatrist Douglas Kelley who also wrote a book about the relationship he built with the war criminal and the experience he got from it.
Things You Need to Know:
The first two things: it’s not a good film if you’re looking for something light. At times, it’s tough to watch. Disturbing. They show video footage of what happened in the concentration camps, and this stuff is hard to take in. Additionally, because it involves war crimes, the subject matter is inherently grim. So, just be aware of this before you watch it. You’ve got to be in the right headspace to sit through this movie.
What’s Great: The Acting & Cinematography
The good news is that the production value is top-notch. The cinematography was absolutely beautiful. The acting? Spectacular.
Russell Crowe was just amazing, as was Rami Malek. There’s one scene, specifically between Rami Malek’s character and Russell Crowe’s character, where Malek’s character is losing his rag a bit with Göring. The dialogue. The actual words, the tension, the way they were delivered, the acting, man. It was breathtaking and got you right on the edge of your seat. It wasn’t just the dialogue itself but the way that dialogue was so, so powerfully delivered.
What’s Not So Great: A Bloated Film
The overall story of the film is too bloated. Some things were just so unnecessary. It just felt like dead space. There were a couple of storylines that were introduced and then never developed.
The War Criminal’s Wife: There was a big storyline about the war criminal’s wife and I just didn’t understand it. I mean, maybe it’s like that in the psychiatrist’s writings, that maybe he was a little dishonest about that relationship, but in the film, it just felt dropped there.
The Journalist: There was another storyline that was with this English journalist. There was like this sexual dynamic between the psychiatrist and the English journalist. It was just like, again, dropped in there and there was no real story to it. Like are they fancying each other, is that what it was? Are they having an affair? Is it a love story? I just didn’t get it.
Leo Woodall’s Character: There was a storyline with Leo Woodall’s character who was called Sergeant Howie. I get what they were trying to do with the character. I just wish if you were going to put it in, you put it in in a different way.
I’m giving Nuremberg 3 ½ stars out of 5 stars.
The real reason this film ultimately works is down to Russell Crowe and Rami Malek. Because of their performances, because I think the story they were trying to tell is good and special, it works. I feel like something’s been lost in the editing. I feel that James Vanderbilt, the director, has included too many elements in the film. It’s like when you try to put too many things in a story, and it all ends up getting backgrounded.
I do like the story. It’s a unique story; I’d never seen or heard of this point of view before. For filmmakers to shine a light on this period in history and tell this particular story is grand in many ways. I walked out of the theater, the first thought that crossed my mind, I said to myself, “Man, that was a bloated film”. I think that’s how most people are going to walk out and that’s how people are going to feel. That’s the reality of the film.
Nuremberg opens on November 7th in theaters in both the U.S. and Canada.
