Nuremberg (2025)

 

Nuremberg (2025): Ego, Manipulation, and the Mind Games of History

Adolf Hitler is dead, the Nazi high command is in complete disarray, and seventy million people are dead. Right out of the gate, Nuremberg sets an unmistakable, unvarnished tone—starting with the absolute visual insult of someone casually pissing on a swastika. Yet, in the middle of this total ruin, you still have former Nazi leaders surrounded by Allied guns asking troops to grab their luggage. The unmitigated audacity is wild. 

Justice Jackson leaving Andrus out in the rain while officers debate egos, politics, and legal rights? Absolutely perfect cinema.

Visual Style & Immediate Observations

• The 20-Minute Cigarette Rule: It’s 1945/1946, yet it takes a full 20 minutes before we see our first cigarette on screen. For a mid-20th-century historical piece, that’s practically a miracle of modern pacing.

• The Opening Demeanor: The contrast between high-ranking prisoners expecting aristocratic military courtesy and Allied soldiers offering zero deference immediately grounds the power dynamic.

Cast Dynamics & Performance Notes

The core energy of the film lives in its performances, specifically the tense, cerebral interactions across cell bars and interrogation tables:

• Rami Malek (Dr. Douglas Kelley): Malek casually twirling cards around on the train immediately establishes Kelley's restless, observant mind. Malek is such an intense, chameleon-like actor that it takes a minute to unsee Freddie Mercury, but his hyper-focused energy fits a 1940s military psychiatrist playing high-stakes mind games.

• Leo Woodall (Howie Triest): Woodall continues to prove he’s one of the most compelling actors working today. His expressive work—and those striking blue eyes—give the movie its grounded moral weight as the German-Jewish interpreter. He completely holds his own, and his scenes opposite Malek are top-tier.

• Colin Hanks: It’s becoming uncanny—Colin Hanks looks and sounds more and more like his father every single time he appears on screen, bringing that natural, steady presence to the command side of the operation.

"It works because people want to believe."

The Psychological Chess Match: Kelley vs. Göring

Bringing in a psychiatrist in the 1940s to analyze war criminals is a fascinating angle. What unfolds isn't just a clinical study; it's a mutual game of manipulation where both sides know they're playing each other.

• The Stethoscope Move: Fooling Göring early on by putting on a stethoscope is brilliant tactical maneuvering—a quick trick to gain medical authority and build initial rapport.

• The Magic Trick Threat: When Hermann Göring tells Kelley he wants to show him a "magic trick," it feels less like a gesture of rapport and more like a subtle, calculated threat. To be this arrogant after losing a global war gives you a chilling idea of just how monstrously arrogant Hitler himself must have been.

• Feeding the Monster's Ego: Asking favors of Göring feeds his bottomless ego, but Kelley does it deliberately to gain control and keep him talking. The danger is that Göring is simultaneously trying to turn Kelley against Colonel Andrus.

• Two Very Different Motives: Dr. Kelley and Dr. Gilbert approach the room with completely different goals. Kelley is obsessed with clinical understanding ("How is that possible?"), fully aware Göring knew about the concentration camps. Gilbert, on the other hand, wants to write a book.

Ideology, Law & "History Repeating Itself"

The film hits its hardest moral friction when dealing with the law and public perception:

• Geneva Convention Irony: Hearing a Nazi officer call out violations of the Geneva Convention is the ultimate display of wild hypocritical arrogance.

• The Trial Dilemma: At the party, officers debate the necessity of trials. But once the war is officially over, summary executions without a trial violate the very rules the Allies were fighting to protect. Getting the defendants to speak English and even approaching the Pope regarding execution trials highlights how bizarre and unprecedented this legal landscape was.

• The Hook of Fascism: When asked why people followed Hitler, the answer—because he made them feel German again—is a sobering reminder. It happened because people let it happen and failed to stand up until it was far too late. As Kelley notes, people could sympathize with Göring's charisma without agreeing with him; fascism works precisely because people want to believe.

Final Verdict

Nuremberg succeeds as a claustrophobic psychological thriller disguised as a legal drama. Göring quickly realizes he has far less power in his "day in court" than he envisioned, but his ability to project control remains terrifying. Between Malek's intense clinical lens and Leo Woodall's grounded heart, it’s a gripping look at how humanity allows monsters to rise—and how tricky it is to put them on trial without feeding their myth.