Plot: What’s it about?
It’s hard to approach a movie that deals with one of the greatest atrocities that have ever happened in human existence. Nuremberg attempts to do that. And, by and large, they get it right but there’s a lot of things that caught me off guard. I can vaguely remember the Nuremberg Trials from a history class in high school or college, but it’s one of those things that we now take for granted and it’s something that’s more useful as a an answer to a trivia question. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not downplaying the importance of what happened, as these trials brought much-needed accountability to the leaders of the Nazi party while simultaneously showing the world the atrocities committed during the Holocaust. To approach this subject matter with anything less than extreme caution is to do a disservice to what happened.
Given that this is a historical drama dealing with real-life events, we essentially “know” the plot. Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) is an Army psychiatrist who’s been brought in to keep tabs on Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe), Hitler’s second in command. There’s a fear that he and other Nazi defendants may try to commit suicide before they can stand trial. Kelly’s attempt to earn trust with Göring all the while Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson (Michael Shannon) tries to figure out how he’s going to mount a case of this magnitude. We see the constant struggle that Jackson goes through trying to mount the logistics of the trial. There’s a scene in which he curries favor with the Pope and calls him out on the Catholic church’s one-time support of Hitler. On the other end, we see the relationship between Kelly and Göring who’s not portrayed anywhere near the monster he was in real life. It’s handled a bit too off the cuff. Given the subject matter, this should have been far more dramatic.
There are a lot of historical films that get things right. And I’m not saying that Nuremberg got anything wrong, per se, rather I had a problem with how they approached certain segments. And there are some fine performances as well. When you have the cover of the movie with the words “Stellar”, “Powerful” and “Superb” splashed across the title card, it’s clear what they were going for. And with this Oscar-winning star studded cast, it only further exemplifies the point – “we want this to win awards.” Shannon is the standout, Malek is miscast and Russell Crowe is slowinly morphing into Marlon Brando. The subject matter has been done before, and better though this isn’t a total waste of time.
Video: How’s it look?
With a film dealing with such a significant event as this, it’d better look good. Well, I guess it doesn’t have to look good, but you get what I’m saying. At any rate, the 2.39:1 AVC HD encode from Sony does look the part. Dimly lit courtrooms, archival footage (and some very powerful footage at that) all give this “period drama” a nice-looking palette. Detail is razor sharp, we get to see every ounce (pound?) of Russell Crowe’s physique and the star studded cast looks good as well. Contrast isn’t really an issue, I feel the movie could have been bumped up on the exposure scale a bit, but I also see what they were going for. It’s a good-looking film.
Audio: How’s it sound?
The included DTS HD Master Audio mix isn’t going to win any awards. It’s there to serve a purpose, but really nothing more. Vocals/dialogue take front and center with some very dynamic, and rich audio coming from the center channel. Surrounds are used, albeit very sparingly. For all intents and purposes, this is a coutroom drama and, well, those aren’t really geared to showcase the limits of your A/V system.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Here’s hoping you like the film, because no supplemental material is on the disc.
The Bottom Line
It’s hard to try and re-create a historical event with as much significance as the Nuremberg Trials. In the end, it seems more like a commentary on the current state of affairs in the United States. And this is one of those films that was simply made to try and win awards. It won’t. If you’re into historical fiction, this might be for you but I felt it missed the mark. Sony’s disc is lacking in any supplements, making this one a hard sell.
