Nuremberg: A Movie for Our Time!

Let me cut to the chase: Go see the new film Nuremberg because I believe it has so much to say to us right here and right now!

The film, starring Russell Crowe as the Nazi leader Herman Göring, is a political, psychological, and spiritual thriller centered on the famous Nuremberg Trials that were held at the end of World War II. I think there is a good chance that Russell Crowe could win an Academy Award for his gripping depiction of the man who was number two under Adolf Hitler.

The film unfolds through the perspective of Dr. Douglas Kelley, an American psychiatrist played by Rami Malek. You might remember Malek as portraying Freddie Mercury in the recent movie about Queen.

The war in Europe is over. Hitler has committed suicide in his bunker. But many of the high ranking Nazi officials are starting to ooze out of Berlin. For example, Göring is caught in Austria while attempting to flee.

Hitler’s leading henchmen are rounded up, and they are brought to Nuremberg to await a trial before an international tribunal made up of judges from the United States, Great Britain, the USSR, and France.

Dr. Kelley’s original job is to see whether or not these prisoners are mentally fit to stand trial. But his job soon takes on many other aspects. The Allies want to know more about the mental workings of people who could carry out a holocaust which led to the death of over 6 million people. Also, the Allied prosecutors in the trial want to know what they will be up against in the courtroom.

Meanwhile, Dr. Kelley is hoping to come away from all of this with a book that will be a best seller and establish him as a leading psychotherapist. This is similar to what Dr. Viktor Frankl was able to accomplish with his Auschwitz experiences in his great classic, Man’s Search for Meaning.

The film highlights the intense rivalry in the battle of wits between Dr. Kelley and Göring, showcasing the complex dynamics during the trial. At one point during one of these colloquies in the cell, Göring thunders at the psychiatrist that, given America’s dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, Great Britain’s carpet bombing of civilian populations in Germany, and Russia’s horrendous treatments of German prisoners of war, the Allies have no moral superiority over him. “You are only trying me in court because you won the war,” Göring insists.

The movie delves into themes of justice, accountability, and morality

during this historic event. Remember that Nuremberg was not only the

scene of the post-war trials, but this city was also the home of the

incredible pre-war massive Nazi rallies. Thousands upon thousands

of people gathered to hear Hitler and Göring speak. If you have never

seen the films about the Nuremberg rallies, I strongly suggest you go

to YouTube and watch some of them.

So, why am I suggesting that you go see this movie. Well, for several reasons. Dr. Kelley concludes that the defendants at the Nuremberg trial were narcissists extraordinaire. He also realizes that there is something very dangerous when such narcissistic personalities obtain superpowers with no checks and balances.

Let me put all of my cards face up. I was adopted into a Jewish family when I was six months old. I must have been around 12 years old when my grandmother, who we called Nana, talked about antisemitism and racial and ethnic hatred arising once again in the world.

I believe it was my father and my Uncle Larry who turned to my grandmother, and in effect said, “Mother, the evils of Hitler and the Nazis have made such things so unfashionable that they won’t happen again.”

My grandmother just smiled and said, “Hitler and the Nazis just made that kind of stuff unfashionable for maybe the next 20 or 30 years… just wait.” Unfortunately my grandmother has been proven to be right, I believe.

We live in a world where holocaust deniers and other peddlers of racial and ethnic hatred are meeting with, and influencing, some of the leading powers-that-be in the US and other countries. Once again we are seeing ethnic cleansing take place in various parts of the world.

Unfortunately, we are seeing a retreat from recent advances made in diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The great British philosopher, Edmund Burke, said that all that was necessary for evil to triumph was for “good men to do nothing.”

So here is a SPOILER ALERT. Dr. Kelley realizes two important things: Göring will eat the Allied prosecutors for lunch in the courtroom because ironically, he is so brilliant.

But Dr. Kelley realizes that such super narcissists like Göring, have an Achilles' heel. It is this Achilles' heel that Allied prosecutors are able to use to bring down Göring and others in the Nazi high command.

What is this Achilles' heel? Well, do you remember book reports that were given in elementary school? So often the young students would end their book reports by saying, “If you want to know how the book turns out, then you’ll have to read the book for yourself.”

If you want to know what this Achilles’ heel is, and I think it is so relevant for today, go see the movie in a theater near you, or when it is available elsewhere.

After seeing this movie I am so proud of Spiritual Life Center, Unity, New Thought, and interfaith spiritual communities, and all that they stand for. In these difficult times, let us not forget to “Love, Serve, and Remember.”

As the Apostle James put it: “This is the essence of real religion.”

Many blessings,

Rev. Rick