Rami Malek and Russell Crowe face off in uneven war crimes drama Nuremberg

Nuremberg (PG13)

149 minutes, opens on March 12
★★★☆☆

The story: Following the defeat of Germany in World War II, American army psychiatrist Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) has to assess the mental fitness of 22 high-ranking prisoners, including Hermann Goring (Russell Crowe), the second-most important person in the Nazi hierarchy after Hitler. Kelley, in speaking with Goring and the others to see if they are sound enough to stand trial for war crimes, hopes to answer the question everyone is asking: How did men raised in a European civilisation commit one of the most barbaric acts of the 20th century?

This is a historical drama that hedges its bets. It seeks to be a legal thriller; then it becomes an examination of the darkness in the souls of ordinary men. The camera pulls back to reveal another aspect: that the Nuremberg trials are a massive piece of public theatre, designed to bury Nazi ideology forever through acts of condemnation made for newspapers and newsreels.

It makes for a lumpy whole, but there are decent bits. The legal procedural within this drama, adapted from the 2013 biography The Nazi And The Psychiatrist by Jack El-Hai, forms one of the most interesting sections of the film.

There is some delicious political manoeuvring between the Americans and their prosecution partners, the British, represented by lawyer Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, played with great charm by English actor Richard E. Grant.

These interactions flesh out the fascinating legal subtleties behind the world’s first international tribunal for war crimes. These lawyers were making history, and they knew it.

“This is the greatest show on earth,” says one character, as news crews from around the world gather.

The verdict was a foregone conclusion – the Nazi leaders were to be found guilty, then executed by hanging or sentenced to long prison sentences – but much had to be done to make the affair look less like vengeful retribution and more like a dispassionate dispensing of justice.

But when the behind-the-scenes legal machinations get interesting, American writer-director James Vanderbilt (Truth, 2015) swings his camera elsewhere.

In one tear-filled scene, it is revealed that the family of a supporting character has been personally touched by the Holocaust. The section is meant to make the horror feel intimate, but that section is jarringly sentimental – after all, courtroom scenes included newsreels showing the carnage. An out-of-place romantic subplot is handled with little grace or enthusiasm.

The relationship between Kelley and the Nazi leaders on his interview roster forms another of the film’s highlights, though some of it is a touch on-the-nose about the banality of evil.

We are not monsters, only men with a responsibility to protect the homeland, they say.

It is a line that Crowe – in a standout performance as the pompous but charming Goring – repeats in various forms, with Vanderbilt making sure that his lines carry a sting of recognition for those familiar with current politics.

When asked by Kelley why Hitler became the focus of a personality cult, Goring answers with chilling smoothness: “He made us feel German again. I have seen Germany crushed. Here comes a man who says, ‘We can reclaim our former glory.’ Would you not follow a man like this?”

Hot take: Nuremberg is a competent but uneven drama that struggles to balance the legal procedural intrigue with psychological insight into the nature of evil.