I think I've seen it 20 times

Rating: 9/10 (9 August 1999)

(First of all: My English isn't that good - I hope I can express what I intend to say. Maybe I've invented a few new words?)
Just two weeks ago I saw the "Reichsparteitagsgelände" at Nuremberg, where the Nazis celebrated their Military Parades. Spencer Tracy also walked there in the film, and so I watched the film once again the day I came back home. It impresses me every time I see it. The actors are brilliant, and the characters seem very realistic to me. There are no only-good-men or only-bad-men. Even the accused ones seem in a way like ordinary people, and I think this is the big unbelievable thing about WWII: That people went to their working place, decided about life or death of innocent men and women and went home in the evening to take their meal and play with the children.
I like the film, because it also shows the difference between the german people, if you compare the Burt Lancaster character with the still fanatic accused man and the servants at Spencer Tracy's household. The Marlene Dietrich character is also very interesting if you know that a lot of germans regarded her as a traitor, when she left Germany to support the USA fighting against Hitler. I don't like Maximilian Schell's acting as much as other commentators of this site do, but maybe it's because I only know the German version of the film, and maybe Schell isn't very talented in synchronizing his own voice: He always shouts as if he sells something on a market.
I have two problems with the movie: The first one is when Lancaster stands up in court like a hero because Schell is talking to Garland in the way the Nazis always did. In my opinion ths scene is to dramatic. The second problem I often think about is about the witness Montgomery Clift (who plays incredibly good): His character is so touching, and everyone in court thinks that his sterilisation was an act of cruelness - unless Schell proofs that Clift came from a weak-minded family and was weak-minded himself. And suddenly the opinion about his case seems to change. And this is something I can't understand. For me it doesn't matter if a person is very clever or a real fool - sterilisation is against the human rights.
But once again: It's one of my favourite films! And at last one tip for those who like "judgement...": Stanley Kramer's "Ship Of Fools". Watch it and think about which of those fools on the ship you are...?