A film about the trial of the Nazi’s after the Second World War isn’t the sort of film I would have predicted being one of my favourite films of the years. Especially as it stars Rami Malek who starred in the The Amateur which is ok and Russell Crowe who hasn’t starred in anything well for quite a while. The film follows Malek’s Douglas Kelley as he is tasked with determining whether several members of the Nazi party are fit to stand trial with the key one being Hermann Goring.
Russell Crowe is amazing in this. When he has the right material he is as good as he was in Gladiator. I recently saw Master and Commander and he’s great in that and I would say that this performance is up there. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him get nominated. He has some great scenes like when Goring brings up what the US did to Japan and when Kelley tries to defend it and basically calls out what he sees as the U.S hypocrisy and superiority. He goes on to say that Kelley isn’t standing in front of him because he is more superior but because the Allies won and Germany lost. It's a great moment in the film that is made great because of Crowe and Malik.
There are many reasons why the film works but the main one is because of the dynamic between Goring and Kelley. You can’t tell as the film progresses whether Kelley has warmed to Goring which is clearly part of his plan. There is a fear that Goring will use the trial to try and spread his message of hate to the world with the biggest megaphone imaginable being the trial and they trial and curb the chances of success by not allowing him to read his speech.
Michael Shannon gives a great performance as Justice Robert Jackson who is basically leading the prosecution but is woefully unprepared for the mind games that Goring is playing. It’s hard to really like the character because it's clear that he is hoping for a cushy job on the Supreme Court and he kind of gets shown up by David Maxwell-Fyfe in about 90 seconds. Richard E. Grant is great even though he pops up every so often and is awesome in every scene. He is great in his first scene when Kelley questions why they are only trying 22 people when the cells hold over a thousand and Maxwell-Fife comes into the scene saying that if the trial doesn't work then there won't be any more trials. It’s one of my favourite opening scenes of the year.
The film is primarily people talking in rooms but there is one moment when it becomes something completely different. It is a truly harrowing moment when we see what is supposed to be the video of the atrocities that the Nazi’s committed and I don't know if it was a mixture of real footage and new footage or entirely what was shown at the trial but either way you can’t watch that and not be moved unless your one of those weird people who think the Holocaust was faked or exaggerated.
What makes the film really good is that as the film progresses the film stops becoming about the trial and more about making sure it doesn't happen again. There is a great moment at the end where people think that the Nazi’s won't happen again because they will be expecting them in uniforms is sort of true because people today who have right wing opinions are in suits, they are in everyday clothes with podcasts and YouTube channels and have social media accounts. They hammer this point home just enough without it ruining my enjoyment of the film. This is a very good film because despite it being people sitting in rooms talking it was a totally gripping story. Considering it ran close to 2 and a half hours this film flew by and at no point was I getting bored. It was the right duration and its good when a film knows how long it needs to be.
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