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Evil is Not a Thesis.
The only way that I can enjoy an historical film that I know from the outset cannot possibly do justice (no pun intended) to its subject matter is to search for and assess the filmmaker’s thesis. While no professional historian can avoid the temptation of playing “spot the historical error,” the more compelling and pertinent enterprise is to recognize that historical films are almost always (leaving Quentin Tarantino aside) expository vehicles rather than minutely accurate representations of the past.
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What does a mass-murderer look like?
There is a dramatic scene in the 2025 film Nuremberg, where rogue US Army psychiatrist Douglas Kelley (played by Rami Malek) secretly visits Hermann Göring’s wife, Emmy, in an attempt to better understand the imprisoned Reichsmarschall. The beautiful and trim Emmy is understandably suspicious of Kelley; after all, next to Hitler, her husband was the second most powerful man in Nazi Germany and was currently hidden away in Allied custody awaiting trial at Nuremberg. In the background we hear delicate piano music. Suddenly there is silence and a young girl enters the frame. She turns to the woman and innocently asks, “wer ist da, Mama?”
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Framing Nuremberg: Choices and their Consequences.
While the Göring-Kelley story makes for a great hook to draw viewers into the trials as historical subject, Vanderbilt’s decision to frame the entire narrative around it leads to choices that sit less well with the actual historical record. One problem is that of balance: only half of the film is devoted to the proceedings themselves.
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