Nuremberg Review – An All-Star Cast Delivers Powerful Performances, Palpable Emotion

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Category: Haute This Issue

Published on Tuesday, 21 October 2025 14:17

Written by Janet Walker

Nuremberg, from Sony Pictures Classic, brings to the screen arguably the most famous war crimes trial in history, and undercovers the possibility that on a world stage, the Germans and their propaganda machine nearly escaped the deserved punishment.

As the film opens, we understand the top Nazi commanders, including Adolf Hitler have committed suicide, innately knowing their atrocities would catch up with them, and as much as they would proclaim a mind controlling propaganda asserting that the world was unable to comprehend the importance of their action, the truth, of course, is that they knew the massacres were shocking beyond words, and would never be understood.

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Which is were the film picks up, Hermann Goering, played by Russell Crowe, in a captivating and award winning performance, is attempting to escape with his family on day after the European liberation, May 8, 1945. American soldiers stop his vehicle and he surrenders.

Minutes later, we meet Justice Robert H. Jackson, played by Michael Shannon, one of the top legal minds in the United States, and next in line for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who is suddenly thrust into the unique position of not only creating legal precedence to create an international tribunal to prosecute war crimes, but more importantly persuading the leaders of the world to join in the prosecution of the remaining top Nazi commanders.

It is the first of its kind and considered by political insiders as a lost cause. Jackson, along with British counsel, Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, played by Richard E. Grant proceed to build a case and seem lost as to where to begin.

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When it becomes apparent that there will be a trial, Colonel Burton C. Andrus, played by John Slattery, oversees the prison, and a U.S Aemy Psychiatrist, Douglass Kelly, played by Remi Malek, is summoned to ensure the dozen German leaders don't commit suicide.

And of course, put the prisoners through a battery of psychiatric tests. The inability of a rational mind to comprehend the grotesqueness of the actions causes Kelly to become enamored with Goering, and Goering plays him effortlessly. The two seem to enter into a dance, with Goering appearing to play into Kelly's hand only to realize that Kelly is caught in Goering's trap, and then vice versa.

During the trial actual footage of the systemic extermination of more than six million jews, and not simply those which have come to represent this blight in world history, but much of the footage is not widely circulated and may not have ever been seen before, and the shocking scenes are numbing, palpable, and emotional. The horrors still translate some eighty years later.

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And yet for the dozen on trial, the repulsions, that bring grown men to tears, are merely considered the price of war. Just when it appears that Goering, who has explained throughout that he will escape the hangman's noose, will have the platform to present a statement that be believes will ignite the Reich and clear him setting the record straight, Kelly finally moves past his infatuation and presents the opening statement to Justice Jackson.

As it becomes apparent that Kelly's judgment is compromised, they bring in a second psychiatrist,  Dr. Gustav Gilbert, played by Colin Hanks, who sees through Kelly instantly and offers to co-author the expected Goering best seller. The two end up fighting. His ego is wounded, and by chance encounters a beautiful journalist, who coaxes the story from him, and the next day the headlines terrify the world and Kelly is removed from duty.

This sets up the final explosive ending. For those that know history, which many audiences will not, the ending is shocking, and prophetic.

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To say the all-star ensemble delivered powerful performances does a disservice to the depth of each of the portrayals. The cast deliver gripping depictions of the characters in this true story, and some may be noted more than others, the riveting portrayals are all are mesmerizing.

Russell Crowe transforms into Hermann Goering, his mannerisms, his dialogue, the inflection in tone, annunciation, and in the confrontational scenes, when it may be easy to slip and even casually revert to a non-German accent, he did not. His performance was flawless and resonating.

Remi Malak, who played many scenes opposite Crowe, we see him gleefully when he is aware of his orders. His intentions were vivid from the beginning, and translated into the audience, he was infatuated with Goering, and he pursued him, passionately.

The production design transports the viewer immediately into the aftermath of World War II, and we are magnetically pulled into this story.

Nuremberg has many standout moments, and together they weave a compelling and impeccable film.

Absorbing from the opening, Nuremberg and the all-star deliver palpable emotion and powerful performances in a film that will surely be remembered during the upcoming awards season.

Nuremberg opens exclusively in theaters November 7, 2025. See it.

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Country: US.

Language: English, German.

Runtime: 148 minutes.

Release Date: November 7, 2025.

Director: James Vanderbilt.

Producer: Benjamin Tappan, Frank Smith, Richard Saperstein, Istvan Major, Cherilyn Hawrysh, George Freeman, Bradley J. Fischer.

Executive Producer: Nikolett Barabas, Devon Boyd, Dave Chapman, Geza Deme, Jack El-Hai, Bela Hajnal, Tamas Hajnal, Paul Neinstein, Annie Keating, W. Porter Payne Jr., Brooke Saperstein, Beau Turpin.

Writer: James Vanderbilt, based on the book "22 Days at Nuremberg," by Jack El-Hai.

Cast: Russell Crowe, Rami Malek, Colin Hanks, Michael Channon, Leo Woodall, Richard E. Grant, John Slattery,, Wrenn Schmidt, Lotte Verbeek, Mark O'Brien, Andreas Pietschmann, Lydia Peckman, Ralph Berkin, Steven Pacey, Dan Cade, Peter Jordan, Jeremy Wheeler, Donald Sage Mackay, Wolfgang Cerny, Dieter Riesle, Michael Sheldon, Sam Newman, Blake Kubena.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has also published "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," and "Days, Times, Seasons, and Events: A Collection of Poetry & Prose," which can be purchased here. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a member of the International Federation of Journalists.