3 years after the end of World War 2, a tribunal is taking place against 4 former Nazi judges who are trial for crimes against humanity whilst they were in office. Retired American chief judge Dan Haywood is presiding over their trial along with 2 other judges. As something of an outsider, Haywood must listen to all of the facts and evidence presented whilst doing a bit of digging himself to try and find out what really happened, but what will his verdict be?
No matter how much acclaim a film achieves by the awards committee or how highly its rated on IMDB I always have concerns when a film runs for 3 hours or more (rarely is it necessary for films to go on that long). However, Judgment at Nuremberg is an example of a film where the length is possibly justified. There's a lot of evidence to be presented, witnesses from both sides who need to give their testimonies etc. Haywood has to do some of his own investigations outside of the court which gives these scenes purpose and meaning... true they are probably less interesting than the trial itself, but I can understand why these scenes were necessary to the story.
The mood and atmosphere of the film are pretty much perfect; there's a sort of claustrophobia about the court scenes and a lot of the actors perform with passion and intensity. Again if I was to be critical then I would say that, at times, the film can be guilty of being a bit over-dramatised, over-acted, and maybe a tad forceful (some of the numerous zoom in shots look a bit silly in this day and age, but may have been received better at the time). However, in the grand scheme of things these are minor drawbacks and on the whole the film is presented in a powerful manner.
The directing is solid (aside from some of the points I've raised in the aforementioned paragraph). Despite the 3 hour length, both Kramer and Mann keep the film tight and focussed and there is rarely a dull moment in this cinematic epic.
At times the film is also powerful in its delivery and its hard not to be moved and possibly even slightly disturbed by what you see and hear in this film. As I say it's not all perfectly done, but it gets a lot more right than it does wrong.
I'm aware that this is a fictionalised account of the Nuremberg trial so I'm not going to take all of this as gospel, but the overall package that was presented to me here was very well done.
For fans of classic cinema this is definitely worth checking out.
No matter how much acclaim a film achieves by the awards committee or how highly its rated on IMDB I always have concerns when a film runs for 3 hours or more (rarely is it necessary for films to go on that long). However, Judgment at Nuremberg is an example of a film where the length is possibly justified. There's a lot of evidence to be presented, witnesses from both sides who need to give their testimonies etc. Haywood has to do some of his own investigations outside of the court which gives these scenes purpose and meaning... true they are probably less interesting than the trial itself, but I can understand why these scenes were necessary to the story.
The mood and atmosphere of the film are pretty much perfect; there's a sort of claustrophobia about the court scenes and a lot of the actors perform with passion and intensity. Again if I was to be critical then I would say that, at times, the film can be guilty of being a bit over-dramatised, over-acted, and maybe a tad forceful (some of the numerous zoom in shots look a bit silly in this day and age, but may have been received better at the time). However, in the grand scheme of things these are minor drawbacks and on the whole the film is presented in a powerful manner.
The directing is solid (aside from some of the points I've raised in the aforementioned paragraph). Despite the 3 hour length, both Kramer and Mann keep the film tight and focussed and there is rarely a dull moment in this cinematic epic.
At times the film is also powerful in its delivery and its hard not to be moved and possibly even slightly disturbed by what you see and hear in this film. As I say it's not all perfectly done, but it gets a lot more right than it does wrong.
I'm aware that this is a fictionalised account of the Nuremberg trial so I'm not going to take all of this as gospel, but the overall package that was presented to me here was very well done.
For fans of classic cinema this is definitely worth checking out.