Russell Crowe leads a compelling post-WWII courtroom drama alongside Rami Malek and Michael Shannon, streaming now
Three powerful stars bring Nuremberg to life on Netflix as the post-WWII psychological drama hits the streaming platform on March 7, 2026. Directed by James Vanderbilt (Truth) and based on the 2013 nonfiction book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist by Jack El-Hai, the film runs 2 hours and 28 minutes and offers a gripping look at the legal reckoning that followed the Allied victory in World War II. It holds a 72% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and grossed $56.9 million at the global box office after its theatrical release on Nov. 7, 2025.
Russell Crowe transforms into history’s most notorious Nazi leader
Crowe plays Hermann Göring, Adolf Hitler’s second-in-command and one of the most powerful figures in the Third Reich. His capture by American troops in Austria in the final days of the war sets the story in motion. The role demands intelligence, arrogance and a kind of chilling civility, and Crowe delivers all three with precision.
Göring is portrayed not as a one-dimensional villain but as a highly intelligent narcissist who, even in captivity at a luxury prison in Bad Mondorf, Luxembourg, remains convinced he will escape punishment for his crimes. The film opens in the immediate aftermath of Nazi Germany’s surrender on May 8, 1945, and traces the long road to the International Military Tribunal, the unprecedented legal body created to prosecute top Nazi officials. Critics have pointed to Crowe’s performance as one of the film’s defining strengths.
Rami Malek plays the psychiatrist caught in a dangerous dynamic
Malek stars as Douglas Kelley, a U.S. Army psychiatrist assigned to evaluate 22 high-ranking Nazi prisoners before they face trial. What begins as a professional assignment slowly takes on a more unsettling character when Kelley finds himself locked in a complex psychological battle with Göring.
Göring is civil and occasionally even charming in their sessions, but Kelley comes to recognize him as a deeply manipulative man who operates with calculated purpose. Their exchanges gradually blur the line between understanding a criminal mind and being pulled in by one, a tension that gives the film much of its dramatic weight. Malek conveys Kelley’s growing unease with restraint and precision, making his arc one of the more affecting in the film.
Michael Shannon anchors the courtroom with formidable authority
Shannon plays Associate Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, the American prosecutor who fought to hold war criminals accountable through law rather than execution. Jackson’s mission was as bold as it was politically fraught: persuading Allied powers to pursue an entirely new form of international justice for Göring and the other accused Nazi leaders.
The charges Jackson helped bring included crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity, categories of prosecution that had no precedent in international law before the Nuremberg Trials. Shannon portrays Jackson as a man of firm moral conviction navigating resistance from multiple fronts, and his performance grounds the film’s legal dimensions with quiet authority.
A supporting cast that brings the story to life
The ensemble around the three leads adds genuine texture to the film. Leo Woodall plays Howard Triest, a German-born Jewish interpreter whose presence lends the story a deeply personal dimension. John Slattery portrays Burton Andrus, the prison warden wrestling with the ethical limits of his role, while Colin Hanks appears as court psychologist Gustave Gilbert. Richard E. Grant plays British prosecutor David Maxwell-Fyfe, and Mark O’Brien takes on the role of prosecutor John Amen.
Why this film is worth your time in 2026
Nuremberg arrives at a moment when debates over international accountability are far from settled. Vanderbilt builds tension through conversation and moral confrontation rather than action, which suits both the subject matter and the performances he has assembled.
The real Nuremberg Trials ran from November 1945 through October 1946, ultimately resulting in convictions across all three newly established categories of crime. Göring, who was sentenced to death, died by suicide the night before his scheduled execution, a haunting coda the film does not avoid.
Nuremberg is now streaming on Netflix and is also available to rent or purchase on Prime Video.
SOURC: Art Threat