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Before its theatrical release in November 2025, Nuremberg was poised to be a standout contender in the 2026 Oscars race. With a cast led by two acclaimed Best Actor recipients, Russell Crowe and Rami Malek, and its focus on a World War II tribunal bringing some of history’s most notorious figures to justice, the film seemed to have all the ingredients of an Academy darling. Historically, the Oscars have shown a penchant for such weighty narratives, as evidenced by the 1961 Best Picture winner, Judgment At Nuremberg, which explored similar themes.
Yet, despite these promising factors, Nuremberg stumbled both at the box office and during award season, failing to secure even a single Oscar nomination. However, the film found a second life on Netflix, capturing the attention of subscribers and quickly climbing into the Netflix Top 10 after debuting on the platform on March 7, 2026. The film’s plot centers on psychiatrist Douglas Kelley, portrayed by Malek, who assesses the mental fitness of former Nazi commander Hermann Göring, played by Crowe, as he faces trial at the groundbreaking international tribunal. While the film’s narrative intrigued viewers, many wondered how much of it reflected true events.
Nuremberg indeed draws heavily from the historical Nuremberg trials, the international criminal proceedings held from 1945 to 1946, aiming to hold Nazi leaders accountable for their wartime atrocities. The film’s storyline is adapted from Jack El-Hai’s 2013 non-fiction book, The Nazi And The Psychiatrist, which has surged to the top of Amazon’s World War II history category since the movie’s release.
These historic trials commenced just six months after Germany’s unconditional surrender to the Allied forces, with 24 defendants facing charges of conspiracy, crimes against humanity, and mass murder. Kelley, serving as a U.S. Army psychiatrist at the time, was tasked with evaluating 22 of the Nazi party’s top echelon, including Göring and Rudolf Hess, the latter portrayed by German actor Andreas Pietschmann.
The film strives for accuracy, incorporating key moments from the actual trials, allowing viewers a glimpse into this pivotal chapter of history. While it may not have resonated with award voters, Nuremberg‘s ability to engage streaming audiences highlights its compelling take on these momentous events.
For example, in one scene, the courtroom is shown footage of concentration camps. This actually happens at the trials: according to a 1945 United Press International article, one defendant, Hans Frank, “got sick” while the footage was being shown, although this was not depicted in the movie.
The footage shown in the movie is also the real footage shown at the trials: Nazi Concentration Camps was a 52-minute film featuring footage taken by Allied photographers as they made their way to Nazi Germany. It was presented as evidence during the trials and was considered a turning point in the trials.
“The images you are about to see have never before been shown in public,” says U.S. Chief Prosecutor Robert Jackson (Michael Shannon), as the lights in the courtroom shut off so the defendants and jury can see what the words “concentration camp” meant.
Director James Vanderbilt asked the cast not to do any research for the scene in order to capture raw reactions to the horrifying footage played in the courtroom.
“Honestly, that was the hardest day on set. But I think it was an essential thing for us to do. And I wanted the audience to have the same experience the people in the courtroom did that day,” Vanderbilt said to RogerEbert.com.
Other details, like the fact that Kelley grew close to Göring and his family, are also true. In 2011, El-Hai wrote that the psychiatrist personally delivered letters to the war criminal’s family, developing a bond between the two men.
El-Hai’s book and real-life documentation lends a lot to the writing and portrayal of the characters, leaving the movie with a generally accurate depiction of a historically significant event.