A Landmark Achievement On Holocaust Films

Rating: 10/10 (29 February 2012)

Judgment at Nuremberg is a drama film dealing with the Holocaust and the Post-World War II Nuremberg Trials. It was written by Abby Mann, directed by Stanley Kramer, and starred Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Werner Klemperer, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, William Shatner and Montgomery Clift. It was among the first films to be made about the Holocaust.
After the end of World War II, the world gradually became aware of the full extent of the war crimes perpetrated by the Third Reich. In 1948, a series of trials were held in Nuremberg, Germany, by an international tribunal, headed by American legal and military officials, with the intent of bringing to justice those guilty of crimes against humanity. However, by that time most of the major figures of the Nazi regime were either dead or long missing, and in the resulting legal proceedings American judges often found themselves confronting the question of how much responsibility someone held who had "just followed orders." Judgment at Nuremberg is a dramatized version of the proceedings at one of these trials, in which Judge Dan Haywood (Spencer Tracy) is overseeing the trials of four German judges -- most notably Dr. Ernst Janning and Emil Hahn -- accused of knowingly sentencing innocent men to death in collusion with the Nazis. Representing the defense is attorney Hans Rolfe (Maximilian Schell), while prosecuting the accused is U.S. Col. Tad Lawson. As the trial goes on, both the visiting Americans and their reluctant German hosts often find themselves facing the legacy of the war, and how both of their nations have been irrevocably changed by it.
A typical Stanley Kramer's film: Serious (even pompous) and humanist, but essentially middlebrow, courtroom drama that while well-acted is too verbose and fearful of taking sides in the controversy over who's to blame for the Nazi atrocities.Aside from that,it could also be considered a rare cinematic exploration of the messy, difficult aftermath of evaluating culpability, not only for the Nazi masterminds, but also for innumerable officials and functionaries.It is definitely absorbing from beginning to end with great acting from Tracy,who delivers a performance of great intelligence and intuition.Although there are there are no surprises in the direction, and Abby Mann's screenplay plays the expected tunes, there's enough conviction on display to reward a patient spectator.A must-see for people who love great films.