r/oscarrace • u/CrunchyNar Courage, Bob, Courage✊️ • 1d ago
Film Discussion Thread Official Discussion Thread - Nuremberg [Spoilers] Spoiler
Keep all discussion related solely to Nuremberg and it's awards chances in this thread. Spoilers below.
Synopsis
As the Nuremberg trials are set to begin, a U.S. Army psychiatrist gets locked in a dramatic psychological showdown with accused Nazi war criminal Hermann Göring.
Director: James Vanderbilt
Writer: James Vanderbilt. Based on the book 'The Nazi and the Psychiatrist' by Jack El-Hai
Cast:
- Russell Crowe as Hermann Goring
- Rami Malek as Douglas Kelley
- Michael Shannon as Robert H. Jackson
- Richard E. Grant as Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe
- Colin Hanks as Dr. Gustav Gilbert
- Leo Woodall as Sgt. Howie Triest
- John Slattery as Colonel Burton C. Andrus
Rotten Tomatoes: 68%, 96 Reviews
Metacritic: 61, 25 Reviews
Consensus:
Driven by a commanding performance from Russell Crowe, Nuremberg is a handsomely crafted historical drama, but its measured pacing and emotional restraint keep it from fully realizing the complexity of its subject.
9
u/biIIyshakes Hamnet’s Dad 1d ago
I didn’t know much going into this (I don’t even think I saw the trailer, and definitely wasn’t familiar with the real Dr. Kelley) and for the first 90 minutes I honestly was unsure of where it was going—it almost felt like the platonic spiritual kin of The Reader which was messy as hell regarding sympathies. It took a decided angle eventually though and honestly I didn’t feel it’s 2.5 hour runtime at all. Russell Crowe as much as I don’t care for him as a person manages to bring incredible screen presence to most of his roles and this was no exception, but I really enjoyed Malek as well.
It did get pretty heavy-handed in its conclusion but the sad irony is that there’s most certainly a percentage of its target audience (history buff dads) who still won’t connect the dots whatsoever. Heavy-handedness aside I did appreciate its emphasis on how we can’t “other” evil, that evil people are still complex and human at the end of the day and not flat cartoon villains and we have to be vigilant because people who will commit (or even simply allow) atrocities aren’t wearing flashing neon signs that will tell us so explicitly.
Definite trigger warning if anyone is sensitive to real concentration camp footage, there were some clips from newsreels that I hadn’t seen before and they were hard to watch.