Nuremberg

It’d be easy to assume that Nuremberg, at two and a half hours, would feel like the sort of thing you’d have to sit through in history class. A worthy but rather weighty endeavour.

The reality? This is as zippy and fast-moving as any action-based war film, just with court rooms replacing battlefields.

The history here is, of course, of monumental importance and you may know your fair share but the film gives some hugely fascinating morsels of information and insight to the events of the Nuremberg trials and the logistical nightmare it took to make them happen.

It also comes at it from an interesting angle; that of psychiatrist Douglas Kelley who is brought to the city to psychoanalyse those of the Nazi command that had been captured.

Naturally, he is shocked at the banality of their evil and subsequently tries to enforce this message that we shouldn’t let the triumph of winning the war at the time lead to further horrors in the future. Something he seems to have been worryingly prescient about.

Whilst the film therefore plays out in word-heavy scenes with minimal background music, often like a stage show in parts, the script is absolutely razor sharp.

Utilising verbatim parts of the transcripts of the trial, some genuinely funny humour and poignant and moving speeches, the script is masterful and delivered impeccably by the absolutely stacked cast.

This is coupled with tasteful and interesting cinematography and perfect pacing to create a winning depiction of these hugely important events.

A warning, a history lesson and a film to reflect and talk about.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️