IMDb #151 Review: Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

Source: Wikipedia

The U.S. of A commissions a wise old judge from Middle-of-Fucking-Nowhere, Maine, to relocate to Germany for the incredibly difficult task of legally determining whether the Nazis were bad people.

Not as simple as it sounds.

The defendants -- judges, now undergoing judgment -- were just doing their jobs when Hitler decided to run things. Can these men be blamed for obeying the (flagrantly racist) laws of the land? The prosecution thinks so. Then again, the rabid nationalistic American officers had the delightful pleasure of liberating Dachau. Slight prejudice there.

However, the judges have a kickass defense lawyer. His passion sizzles for justice, loopholes, and moral ambiguity.

These three hours are the slowest burn I've ever seen passed off as a movie. Serious men talk in a room, and occasionally shout. The camera circles speakers like a hungry vulture. Various witnesses occupy the stands: a skittish lady with a sordid romantic history, a chemically castrated old man, and (in spirit) over six million dead Jews.

The lawyers delve into the racist ruling of a past case, harping on minutiae. Until the Americans bring out legitimate Holocaust footage. (In a Bad Things To Do contest, tough to beat genocide.) Somehow, the sad old white guys find the guts to repeat, "Not guilty, not guilty."

As the case wears on, the increasingly weary judge acclimates to postwar Germany. Amid the bombed-out shell of a city, he lives in a mansion, and somehow meets and dines with the widow who used to live there. He also finds it to be in poor taste to ask the serving staff about the concentration camps.

Did the German people know the extent of Hitler's atrocities? Good question. The kickass defense lawyer indicts the whole world, who knew of the Nazi party's intentions years in advance, yet did nothing. And the Americans, who nuked Japan. He demands to leave a shred of dignity, of autonomy, for the German people. As if that's an easy thing.

But the old backwoods judge feels he must vote his conscience. Especially if the decision is unpopular.

All in all: gray, gray, gray. Not just because the movie's in black and white. Not because it's white guys in dark suits sitting in a room. But because the morality is so obscure, the presentation so dry, and the outcome so bleak.

So this (fictionalized) judge votes his conscience for these (fictionalized) war criminals. In one major sense the film parallels reality: by the time this movie was made, the (real) decision didn't matter anymore anyway.

179 minutes.