The only clue to what man can do, is what man has done – R.G. Collingwood
And so ends a gripping tale whose outcome we already know, yet every minute of footage is a revelation in the historical biopic Nuremberg.
Russel Crowe, who is entirely believable as the bloated – in both body and mind – German war criminal Hermann Göring; and Rami – is-there-any-thing-or-anyone-this-man-can not-do? – Malek, lead a stellar cast in this utterly compelling drama.
Written and directed by James Vanderbilt ( Truth, Zodiac) and adapted from Jack El-Hai’s acclaimed non-fiction work, The Nazi and the Psychiatrist, this psychological thriller centres on the establishment of the historic trials that prosecuted members of the Nazi high command for their war crimes.
In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, as the world grapples with the unveiled horrors of the Holocaust, US Army psychiatrist Lt. Col. Douglas Kelley (Malek) is assigned the extraordinary task of assessing the mental state of Hermann Göring (Crowe), the notorious former Reichsmarschall, and Hitler’s second in command, along with other high-ranking Nazi officials.
As the Allies – led by the unyielding chief US prosecutor, Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson (Michael Shannon) alongside Sgt. Howie Triest (Leo Woodall), David Maxwell-Fyfe (Richard E. Grant), Gustave Gilbert (Colin Hanks), Col. John Amen (Mark O’Brien) and Burton C. Andrus (John Slattery) – navigate the monumental task of creating an unprecedented international tribunal to ensure the Nazi regime answers for its atrocities, Kelley gets to know his ‘patients’. But he soon finds himself locked in a psychological duel with Göring, whose charisma and cunning reveal a sobering truth: that ordinary men can commit unthinkable evil.
Parts of this movie are hard to watch, but the lesson is in the viewing.
Don’t miss it – palacecinemas.com.au
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