Nuremberg was released late in 2025, presumably with an eye towards making an awards season run.
While Oscar nominations eluded the film by writer and director James Vanderbilt, Nuermberg has found a new streaming home.
Unsurprisingly, Nuermberg is already climbing Netflix‘s streaming movie chart despite the grim subject matter.
Now, Watch With Us is sharing the three reasons you should watch Nuremberg on Netflix in March, and why it’s likely to have a long life on streaming.
‘Nuremberg’ Is a Psychological Thriller and a Historical Drama
One of the best choices Vanderbilt made was the decision to make Nuermberg lean into the thriller genre rather than treating it like a historical drama. It makes the outcome feel less certain, even though these events took place decades ago in the aftermath of World War II. After several Nazi leaders are captured, the decision is made to put them on trial to face charges of crimes against humanity.
Even the typically heroic characters are deeply flawed in this retelling. None more so than Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek), a psychiatrist who sees his work with the Nazi prisoners as a chance to cash in and write a tell-all book about it. Kelley’s not there for the right reasons, but he still plays an important part in the story. Lawyer Robert H. Jackson (Michael Shannon) also crosses moral lines as needed, including the scene above when he blackmails Pope Pius XII (Giuseppe Cederna) into accepting the trials. No one’s hands are clean here, not even the Pope’s.
Russell Crowe Delivers One of His Strongest Performances
It’s been 25 years since Russell Crowe won Best Actor for Gladiator, and he probably should have gotten another nomination this year as well. Crowe has the standout performance in Nuremberg as Hermann Göring, one of the highest-ranking Nazi war criminals to be taken alive at the end of World War II. Göring is unrepentant about his sins because he doesn’t really see what he has done as something wrong.
Crowe gives Göring a personal charisma that can be unnerving. Kelley may have had ulterior motives to get close to Göring, but their relationship almost feels seductive at times. Not in a romantic sense, only in the way that Göring presents his actions during the war as the most natural thing to do under those circumstances. In Göring’s mind, he’s still the hero of his own story, all evidence to the contrary.
‘Nuremberg’ Has Something Important to Say About the Nature of Evil
Some of the intriguing moments in the film come when Göring is asked to explain why he and the rest of Germany’s people blindly followed Adolf Hitler into fascism and war. His answer has some uncomfortable parallels with current events in countries around the world where the most extreme political parties have embraced aspects of fascism and totalitarianism.
Nuremberg isn’t just revisiting these trials; it’s showing viewers just how easy it is for fascism to rise alongside calls for nationalism. That’s a lesson that’s been forgotten by too many people, and we collectively need that reminder.
Nuremberg is streaming on Netflix.
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