Eighty years after the Nuremberg Trials brought the top Nazi leadership to justice, Nuremberg, a new film from Sony Pictures Classics, Walden Media, and Bluestone Entertainment, brings the courtroom drama back into focus—with a psychological twist that hits disturbingly close to home.
Opening in theaters nationwide on November 7, 2025, Nuremberg has become a must-watch film, starring Russell Crowe as Nazi leader Hermann Göring, Rami Malek as U.S. Army psychiatrist Capt. Douglas Kelley and Michael Shannon as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, the chief prosecutor at the trials. The film marks a return to high-stakes, character-driven drama for writer-director James Vanderbilt, whose credits include Zodiac and Truth.
More than just a courtroom procedural, Nuremberg centers on one of the lesser-known but deeply consequential military assignments of WWII: the psychiatric evaluation of Nazi war criminals by a young Army doctor who ended up getting far too close to his patients.
A Different Kind of WWII Story
Adapted from Jack El-Hai’s 2013 nonfiction book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist, the film isn't the type of WWII movie we're used to, but instead dramatizes the real-life encounter between Capt. Kelley and the imprisoned Nazi elite. Tasked with determining their mental fitness to stand trial, Kelley entered their prison cells armed with only his training, a notepad, and a growing sense that what he was discovering was far more dangerous than insanity.
Hermann Göring, Hitler’s designated successor, emerged as Kelley’s primary subject. The Reichsmarschall was not just unrepentant but unnervingly charismatic. He joked, flattered, and debated with Kelley, framing mass murder not as madness, but as pragmatic wartime leadership. Kelley would later record one such moment in which Göring casually explained, “He was in my way.”
The film’s true power, according to Vanderbilt, lies in that psychological tension.
“Nuremberg explores the fragile boundary between justice and vengeance in the aftermath of unimaginable atrocity,” Vanderbilt said. “As we approach the 80th anniversary of this unprecedented moment in history, this story feels more urgent than ever.”
Fact Meets Fiction: What Nuremberg Gets Right
Capt. Kelley’s assignment wasn’t just about sanity. It was about sending a message to the world—that even in the face of genocide, the Allies would hold fast to due process. That meant evaluating Göring and the others as human beings, not monsters. What Kelley found disturbed him: they weren’t delusional or psychotic. They were functional, strategic, and devoid of remorse.
Kelley later wrote that what terrified him most was how normal they were. His notes suggested that similar personalities—driven by loyalty, structure, and ambition—could exist in any country, including America.
The film doesn’t shy away from that uncomfortable truth. And it doesn’t glamorize its characters. Kelley, portrayed by Malek, is ambitious, overconfident, and, as some reviews note, morally confused. He flirts with self-interest as he mines Göring for insights that he hopes will launch his academic career.
But the longer he sits across from the Nazi warlord, the more that line blurs. As Kelley becomes Göring’s confidant—delivering letters to his wife, advocating for his comfort—he also quietly funnels intelligence back to prosecutors. The ethical dilemma isn’t abstract. It’s military. And it’s still taught in uniformed services today: When your patient is your enemy, who do you serve—your oath, or the mission?
Hollywood’s Version — And Why It's Timely
The 2025 film Nuremberg dramatizes this exact relationship.
Role | Actor |
Hermann Göring | Russell Crowe |
Maj. Douglas Kelley | Rami Malek |
Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson | Michael Shannon |
Dir. / Writer | James Vanderbilt |
Release Date | Nov. 7, 2025 (Sony Pictures Classics) |
The film is based directly on Jack El-Hai’s investigative work, including the same archival notes his family never published until decades later. Which means that for the first time, millions of people will learn the name Douglas Kelley, not just Hermann Göring.
Final Thought
Kelley went to Nuremberg to prove that evil could be diagnosed, categorized, and maybe even prevented. What he found instead was a more complicated truth, that the Nazis were not monsters in the clinical sense but were human beings who chose monstrosity. This film is shaping up to be more timely than ever.
“… one of the interesting things about history it doesn’t seem to teach us anything. You know, we go through the same cycles of greed and stupidity. And, you know, even in my lifetime, I’ve witnessed some very strange decisions being made collectively by people. You know, it’s a timely film, but it’s not necessarily about our time now. It’s about who we are as humans, really.” – Russell Crowe/AP Entertainment
Which raises a question that never really goes away — in war or in peace: If evil doesn’t require madness, what does it require? And could ordinary people do the same things under the right conditions?
Nuremberg released in theaters on November 7th, so be sure to check your local listings for show times.
