Review – Nuremberg

Despite the high quality of the acting and other production values, I’m not sure this accomplishes much that wasn’t already done by Judgment at Nuremberg 65 years ago. Indeed, I was a little surprised to see the first set of Nazi defendants – particularly big fish Herman Goering (Russell Crowe) – humanized to this extent. I believe I understand the filmmakers’ intent to use the “banality of evil” approach as a warning that people can be monsters even without horns and fangs (a particularly poignant lesson in the current climate). But then the good guys also seem cynical, incompetent, dishonest or otherwise morally ambiguous. Thus the movie was fun to watch but a little unsettling to reflect upon. Mildly amusing