The story of the Nuremberg trials following WWII has been told many times in film, TV series and books but this film focusses very squarely on the role played by the American Army psychiatrist whisked in to evaluate and try to get under the skin of the accused Nazi leaders. Particularly though his growing obsession with understanding how human beings could have taken part in such acts of evil, via a bond with Hermann Göring, with which those around him grow increasingly concerned.
Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody) knocks it out of the park as he plays said psychiatrist Douglas Kelley, supported very impressively by Russell Crowe (Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind) as Göring. The allies seek to bring justice to the German high command for the atrocities of the Holocaust, trying hard to secure admissions of guilt and responsibility for the laws passed and orders given to those below them.
Much of the first three-quarters of the 2 hour 28 minute film are spent alongside Kelley and Göring as we see how the battle of wits develops between them, their relationship grows closer and the psychiatrist starts to warm to the man and his family, who are staying nearby and with whom he regularly visits during the process. Director/producer/writer (though it is based on Jack El-Hai's book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist) James Vanderbilt (Truth, The Amazing Spider-Man) keeps things tight as we get up close and personal with the two leads heading towards the gripping courtroom drama at the end.
When we do get there, Michael Shannon (The Shape of Water, Knives Out) is similarly terrific as chief prosecutor Justice Robert H. Jackson, supported by, in the end, another great performance by Richard E. Grant (Withnail and I, Gosford Park) as fixer Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe. I'm no historian, so not sure how much of the nitty-gritty behind closed doors is true or accurate but it's certainly been made here into a gripping and harrowing tale. There's time spent in the courtroom where film footage of what the allies found in the concentration camps was screened for all to see, which I assume is actual images from the time and not generated by Hollywood.
Apparently, laying aside not really having evidence of what went on behind closed doors, the film is pretty factual which, if you took away the psychological battle between the two leads, would make it less of a drama and more shocking/upsetting. What makes it powerful, in a different sense though, is getting close to Göring (and his huge ego), pompously believing that he, his country and their leadership had done was right and proper to give the German people back what was theirs. It brings chills watching Crowe doing this very convincingly.
It's beautifully shot depicting the time and places involved and highlights also the difficult dilemma for the Americans, having to conduct the trials in Germany, where German laws had been implemented, even if by the Nazi party, rather than in America - which they had to realise would be inappropriate given that none of WWII actually happened there. War crimes trials had never been conducted like this before and these events were forming the way forward from a near blank sheet of paper, towards the likes of The Hague now in-situ.
So yes, it's all a little of a history lesson, but the drama is certainly lifted by the drama of the struggle between these two men. We get some captions at the end to tell us what happened during the following years to the main people involved, which, again, seem factual. All very sad - entertainment at a stretch, but more an opportunity for reflection of the events of the last century. Quite brilliantly made and highly recommended.
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