Nuremberg Files 📁

 Finished Nuremberg (2025).

What began as simple curiosity—the historian in me wanting a deeper, more immersive cinematic experience of the Nuremberg Trials—quickly became something far more unsettling and profound.

I realized how little I truly knew beyond the basics. The film, based on The Nazi and the Psychiatrist by Jack El-Hai, takes us deep into the inner workings of the trials: the psychology, the strategy, and the human minds behind crimes history often reduces to numbers and verdicts. This is not merely a courtroom drama; it is the post-mortem of World War II itself.

There is a quiet, biting irony in watching these events unfold largely from a U.S. point of view,especially in a world that still debates war crimes, democracy, justice, and power. But in 1945, none of the structures we now rely on truly existed. The world had just survived the greatest massacre humanity had ever inflicted upon itself, and justice was being invented in real time.

Nuremberg, a city once central to Nazi ideology became the stage where captured Nazi leaders were brought to trial. Justice Robert H. Jackson, representing the United States, helped establish an international military tribunal with the participation of all Allied powers. One line from the film lingers long after the credits roll:

“Before the bullets were fired, before tens of millions of men died, all of this started with laws. This war ends in a courtroom.”

At the psychological core of the story is Dr. Douglas Kelley, tasked with evaluating Hermann Göring—Reichsmarschall of Nazi Germany and second only to Adolf Hitler. Kelley’s role went far beyond diagnosis. His mission was to understand Göring’s mind, predict his behavior, and expose the very arrogance and contradictions that could be used against him. Göring was not only dangerous; he was disturbingly intelligent, charismatic, and manipulative—a man who believed in his own superiority to the very end.

Rami Malek delivers an exceptional performance as Dr. Kelley—restrained, intense, and deeply human. He portrays a man walking a thin line between professional detachment and moral erosion. The supporting cast,translators, prison staff, and fellow doctors,adds layers of realism that make the film feel less like a reenactment and more like lived history.

Russell Crowe as Hermann Göring is an absolute, unsettling delight to watch. From the accent to the arrogance, from the carefully maintained pride to the casual cruelty, Crowe embodies one of the most dangerous men born to mankind with chilling precision. His portrayal is so layered that, at moments, the audience may find themselves almost liking Göring,an uncomfortable realization that speaks to how evil often masks itself behind charm and intellect.

But the courtroom reveals his true colors. Crowe captures Göring’s downfall not as a dramatic explosion, but as a slow and humiliating collapse—seen entirely through Göring’s own eyes. This is a man who could dominate rooms but could never stand against his Führer, even when he knew what had been done was wrong. His pride does not disappear; it fractures. And in that fracture, the illusion collapses. What remains is not a revolutionary, not a misunderstood genius—but a man finally brought to his knees by the very laws he once helped create.

The strategy worked. The Allied justices prevailed. The verdicts were delivered: death by hanging. Yet Göring deceived everyone to the very end, hiding cyanide and taking his own life before the execution could take place.

The post-credit revelation is perhaps the most haunting of all—how these trials, and Göring himself, deeply affected Dr. Kelley, who later died by suicide, mirroring in tragedy the very man he once studied.

Nuremberg is not an easy watch, nor is it meant to be. It is chilling, uncomfortable, and deeply reflective. For history buffs, war-film lovers, and those drawn to morally complex narratives and classic cinema, this is a must-watch.

And inevitably, it reshaped my reading list for the year:

01.The Nazi and the Psychiatrist – Jack El-Hai

02. Eichmann in Jerusalem – Hannah Arendt

Some films don’t simply end when the screen goes dark. They linger. Nuremberg is one of them.

#Maani