An Uncomfortable Viewing in USA, May 2006

Judgement at Nuremberg has long been a favorite film of mine.

It has its flaws, I think: much as I love Burt Lancaster, and think he understood both the film and the emotional development of his character in the story, I have never liked this role for him: it's just not his part. It's a bit like his performance in the Rose Tattoo: he's so wonderful, you hate to say it, but you have to admit that you don't really believe that he's a Sicilian American, and you don't really believe that he's the dopey clown which the script clearly makes him--and in spite of that, his warmth and beauty make you say, oh, okay, I'll make the mental adjustment, and pretend he smells more of garlic than he does.

In the same way, in this film, I just can't get myself to view him as a German, and think that it is actually quite instructive, for students of acting who wish to perfect their nationality mannerisms, to compare the way Lancaster raises his voice, in the film, and the way Schell does his yelling: very different, indeed!

The same can be said, I suppose, of Judy Garland, who also cannot make me believe she is German, but of course, her performance is so moving and so completely dedicated in all other ways, that it is easier to put this objection aside.

I imagine that a few fans of the film are already fuming at my having said this, but I would ask them, between puffs of angry breath, to consider that I do not level the same criticism at Montgomery Cliff: in spite of whatever difficulties he had, at that point in his career, I understand that he was a meticulous actor, who went over every syllable, every gesture, and if you watch his performance very carefully (because it's very hard to view it, technically, since it is so easy to get swept up in the emotion of it!), you will see how carefully he crafts every single movement of his hands, to make it the way a German man of that generation would speak--very, very different from his gestures when he plays an American character!

I began by saying that this was an uncomfortable viewing for me: late last night, I noticed the film was being broadcast on television (Turner Classic Movies channel in the U.S.), and couldn't resist staying up late to enjoy it again.

What struck me more than anything else, however, is how very applicable the theme of the film is to our current concerns in the United States, regarding the so-called "war on terror" and what we should be doing to protect and preserve ourselves. When Spencer Tracy delivers the verdict of the tribunal, his eloquent and perfectly performed speech indicts and condemns some of the things that we are doing (or, depending on your political and philosophical views, at least raises serious questions about it), and my face was blushing and stinging with guilt and awe, along with Herr Janning's, in recognition of sin.

"Survive as what?!"--I suddenly realized that this phrase, which has been ringing as a refrain in my head, since the disclosure of the outrages at Abu Ghraib prison, and my learning of some of the other extreme measures my government has taken for my safety and survival--I suddenly realized that this phrase was reverberating for me because I had seen this film, and it had made such an impression on me. I had forgotten that this argument from the verdict had been where I learned this simple principle of conducting the life of a nation.

I think it makes it all the more worth a viewing, these days, to help us determine what we are doing right; and what we are doing that is very, very wrong.