The film Nuremberg (2025) is difficult to watch for a few reasons, but none of them diminish its importance, particularly right now.  It depicts a tragic moment in World History, though some of it is dramatized.  Speaking of dramatization, a Catholic like myself had to take brief issue with it for how it portrays the Church and Her seeming complicity with the Nazis.  Such suppositions have been refuted by actual academic history rather than the version given by Hollywood.  With all these factors, some might find it tough to watch because it is a somewhat slow-moving historical drama.  All these factors should be ignored.  One of the underlying points of the film is that, despite their evil actions, the Nazis were people, too.  As such, we need to be conscious of our actions, and watching movies like this one furthers that goal.

Roughly a year before there are any trials at Nuremberg, Hermann Göring’s (Russell Crowe) goal is to escape the defeated Germany.  He does not get far, being caught by American soldiers in Austria.  As the second-in-command of the German Reich, his capture is significant for the Allies.  Word of the netting of so important a figure reaches the United States, and Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson (Michael Shannon) is informed as soon as possible.  His instinct is to buck public sentiment, which simply wants to shoot all located and living members of the Nazi high command, but he believes that will make martyrs of them.  Take it from this Catholic, some martyrs are not worth making.  However, he is reminded that there is little precedent for putting on trial those guilty of crimes against humanity.  To make this happen, he realizes he will need the cooperation of all the Allies, which is his first challenge.  The next comes when the United States Congress signals that it will not support the effort.  With a little convincing from Pope Pius XII (Giuseppe Cederna), minds are changed and preparations for a trial begin.  Part of those preparations involve bringing in a psychiatrist in order to evaluate the mental fitness of the accused.  The person called upon to perform this task is the young Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek).  Upon getting to where the prisoners are currently being held, he wastes no time in commencing the interviews.  Accompanying him is Sergeant Howie Triest (Leo Woodall), a German American soldier who acts as an interpreter.  One of the issues that is immediately addressed is Göring’s supposed need for potent and addictive pain medication.  In convincing the Nazi otherwise, it becomes apparent that Göring knows English.  The same can be said for a couple other ex-officials, all of which are questioned by Dr. Kelley.  The main person, though, is Göring, who is also highly intelligent as emerges from the tests Dr. Kelley runs.  As such, Dr. Kelley realizes he must be careful in gaining Göring’s trust.  By the time they are moved to Nuremberg, the place of the trial and the birthplace of the Nazi party, this process is underway.  One of the ways in which Dr. Kelley accomplishes this is by visiting Edda (Fleur Bremmer) and Emmy Göring (Lotte Verbeek), Göring’s daughter and wife respectively.  Letters are exchanged and Dr. Kelley spends more time than is recommended with Edda and Emmy.  While doing so builds trust with Göring, the United States Army, especially the prison’s commandant, Colonel Burton C. Andrus (John Slattery), take a dimmer view of Dr. Kelley’s activities.  Namely, they are not happy with the information Dr. Kelley is supplying, or its usefulness.  He cites doctor-patient confidentiality, but a clandestine meeting with Justice Jackson convinces the therapist to be more forthcoming.  Nonetheless, the Army brings in another psychiatrist, Lieutenant Dr. Gustave Gilbert (Colin Hanks), to get a second opinion.  When the two practitioners meet, Dr. Gilbert has a more frank attitude, saying out loud how they hope to write a book based on their experiences.  Things also begin to change as the trial nears when the Allies decide to arrest Emmy.  Hoping to maintain their relationship, Dr. Kelley does not tell Göring about the incident, but Dr. Gilbert admits it in an offhand manner.  As such, Göring is on edge as his day in court arrives.  As he is called upon to say whether he is guilty, one of the judges cuts off his pontificating before it goes long, instructing the defendant to stick to the plea.  The next day, the room is shown footage of the concentration camps.  It takes an emotional toll on everyone present.  Because Göring claimed to have no knowledge of these atrocities, Dr. Kelley goes to the Nazi’s cell and accuses the one-time heir to Adolf Hitler (archival footage) of lying.  Göring remains defiant, calling Dr. Kelley a hypocrite because of the killing done by the Allies.  Dr. Kelley proceeds to get drunk, and is met in the bar by a journalist, Lila McQuaide (Lydia Peckham), to whom he reveals the private conversations he has had with Göring.  It becomes headline material and Colonel Andrus fires Dr. Kelley, further kicking the Lieutenant Colonel out of the army.  On the way home, Dr. Kelley is met at the train station by Sergeant Triest, who reveals his Jewish heritage and talks about the importance of the trial.  Thus, instead of returning to the United States, Dr. Kelley goes to Justice Jackson in order to coach the lawyers on how to handle Göring, who is set to take the stand.  Under examination, Göring’s latent haughtiness comes through, but a small detail in a document seems to defeat Justice Jackson.  It is then that Sir David Maxwell Fyfe (Richard E. Grant), the British legal expert, steps in and points to the absurdity of so highly a placed a person like Göring being aware of the death of millions of Jews.  It is enough for a conviction, and Dr. Kelley says one last goodbye to Göring before execution day.  Yet, Göring escapes the noose by taking a cyanide capsule he had hidden.  The final scene is of an increasingly drunk and paranoid Dr. Kelley walking away from a radio program after warning that something like the Nazis could again happen.

The postscript to Nuremberg tells us that Dr. Kelley committed suicide in 1958, ironically also by cyanide.  His death is yet one more in the millions who perished as a result of World War II.  War is tragic.  Because of this fact, it is little wonder that Pope Leo XIV has called for world leaders right now come together to end the increasing violence happening in the world.  To this end, there is a significant line in the film that says that all modern wars become world wars.  We may not think of them specifically in those words, but name a significant conflict, particularly one in which the United States has been involved, that has not drawn in other countries.  It is happening as I type this review.  It should be pointed out here that the Church does not condemn such hostilities simply for the sake of peace.  She acknowledges that there are times when taking up arms for a nation can be justified.  The key difference is purely self-defense.  One of the aspects of the court proceedings, as we see in the movie, is putting the Nazis on trial for starting wars, especially of conquest, despite not being attacked.  At that time, and one can hear the echoes in Göring’s testimony, the Nazis determined that there was a threat and acted to prevent it.  Specifically, this is the justification given for invading Denmark and Norway, claiming that they did so in order to prevent the British from making such a move.  Beyond this, they used slogans like wanting to reclaim their former glory.  Sadly, this rhetoric is all too familiar, and it is the kind of mantra that gets people to follow something they might not otherwise support.

At the end of Nuremberg, we see the toll this understanding has on Dr. Kelley.  People do not want to hear that they could be allowing another global catastrophe to occur.  This is why this film is an important one and I hope you decide to watch it.