Nuremberg: Its Lesson for Today is guaranteed to make you queasy. And sadly, the nausea you’ll feel won’t be the result of low-budget slasher gore but the real-life actions of German Nazis—and the realization that not only is mankind capable of the most heinous of acts, it also has the gall to feign ignorance of these atrocities.
As unsettling as Nuremberg can be, this restored documentary about the international trial of top Nazi war criminals is also a reminder of how good can ultimately triumph over evil.
Just a few months after World War II ended, an international legal team of American, British, French and Russian lawyers prosecuted the leading Nazis who remained alive. To create a document that would show Germans that the Nazis had been tried fairly—and lay a foundation for how crimes against humanity would be handled in the future—the War Department and U.S. military government commissioned Stuart Schulberg to create a documentary that included courtroom footage of the trial as well as images from the war.
When Schulberg’s documentary was completed in 1948, it was screened in Germany but never shown in the United States because Secretary of the Army Kenneth Royall deemed it “contrary to the present policies and aims of the government.” Over time the picture negative and sound elements were lost or destroyed, making it unlikely that Nuremberg would ever see the light of day stateside.
Now, 60-plus years later, filmmakers Sandra Schulberg (Stuart’s daughter) and Josh Waletzky have created a new 35mm negative using the German Federal Archive’s best print and reconstructing the soundtrack using original sound from the trial. To help keep the story’s flow coherent, actor Liev Schreiber narrates the proceedings using words nearly identical to the movie’s original narration.
The Nuremberg restoration project is a noble effort, and as a historical document there’s no questioning the film’s value. But as a theatrical release it can be frustratingly choppy, incoherent and repetitive. That’s partially understandable: Only 25 hours of footage of the 11-month trial was shot, yielding an incomplete picture of the proceedings and making it challenging for Schulberg and Waletzky to sync audio and video from the trial.
Still, one wonders if taking a non-traditional approach to the source material would have resulted in a more coherent, engaging modern-day viewing experience. As presented, the sum of Nuremberg’s parts fails to exceed the whole. Expanding the film with additional interviews, footage, graphics or narration may have strayed from traditional restoration practices but resulted in a stronger overall product.
Nonetheless, there are individual scenes in Nuremberg that burn into the mind. Listening to Nazi leaders talk about how they were shocked—SHOCKED! —to learn of the atrocities happening under their noses plays like a grotesque exercise in shirking responsibility. Apparently, scapegoating those above and below you in the line of command isn’t a new phenomenon.
Then there’s the testimony and footage regarding the Nazi concentration camps. These scenes are a brutal and necessary reminder of the depths to which humanity can sink. As the original filmmakers intended, there are lessons here that must never be forgotten, and by helping ensure they’re remembered, Nuremberg: Its Lesson for Today lives up to its original mission.
Grade: B
"Nuremberg: Its Lesson for Today" opens in Atlanta on Feb. 18 at Landmark’s Midtown Art Cinema.
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