A Must-See Film

Rating: 10/10 (23 May 2006)

Every now and again you see a film that you think needs to be seen by everybody. This is such a film. You really are depriving yourself of a life-enhancing experience if you miss it.
It is essentially a courtroom drama, exposing the true horrors of the Nazi regime. While many of the leading Nazis were indeed tried at Nuremberg for war crimes in the late 1940s, the co-accused in this case are fictional characters, which allows the actors and writer the luxury of concentrating on emotions and themes rather than impersonations.
Spencer Tracy excels as the world-weary American Judge brought in to preside over the case. He is a man on a journey, trying desperately to discover a rational basis for what has happened to a once great people. His quiet style contrasts with the fiery passion displayed by both the Defence Counsel Maximilian Schell, a proud, intelligent young German determined to establish that not all his countrymen are to blame for the brutality of the Nazi regime, and lead Prosecutor Richard Widmark, a bitter military man who is set only on vengeance and retribution.
Schell's character deserves some explanation. This is no Nazi. His love for his country is based not on the Germany of Hitler but of Bismarck and before. Impressive and eloquent, he battles doggedly against the odds because he genuinely believes that the interests of Germany and the wider world will be better served by forgiveness and absolution, rather than Widmark's brutal, indiscriminate revenge. Schnell rightly won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for conveying all this. The only wonder, for me, is that none of the other players joined him on the Academy's lists.
The most impressive of the four defendants is the noble law professor played by Burt Lancaster. But for me, one of the best performances in this film of great acting all round is that by Werner Klemperer, as the only truly unrepentant Nazi, exuding menace and resentment from every pore. The female interest is provided by Marlene Dietrich, the aristocratic widow of a leading Nazi official, whose house has been confiscated and given to Tracy's character for the duration of the trial. The two strike up an unlikely friendship, the tenderness of which contrasts starkly with the harsh reality exposed in the courtroom. One of the best scenes in the film is Dietrich's sad translation of the words of 'Lili Marlene' as it is sung by sombre passers-by as she is walked home by Tracy. It turns out to be an even more tragic song than we had imagined, and as such stands as a poignant symbol of the case as a whole.
I like courtroom dramas. They provide claustrophobic settings which seem to breed great performances and tense, dramatic conflicts. There is no love lost between the two young lawyers in this film, and their exchanges are explosive. Nor is there any camaraderie between the four defendants, lurking in the dock in their varying degrees of denial and repentance. An array of tragic witnesses proceeds through the trial - the most notable being played by a troubled Judy Garland - and Tracey's quest for understanding puts him at odds with his fellow Judges on the case. It is a film therefore of individuals. Apart from the faltering liaison between Tracy and Dietrich, few partnerships are formed. Its bleak structure in this sense mirrors the tightly drawn courtroom setting and the ruined, desolate streets created by Kramer to evoke the post-war reality of German misery and shame.
We share the shock and horror of the court as the full extent of the atrocities are revealed for the first time. And just as we think the film can't get any better, Tracy makes his final summing up speech: an 11-minute masterpiece, eloquently written and perfectly presented (allegedly in a single take). It stands up even today as a flawless exposition of uncompromising humanity. It is not the final scene of the film however. That comes a little later, between Tracy and Lancaster, and the closing line is - quite simply - devastating.
You must see this film. It is the kind of cinematic experience that truly changes lives.