Why is “Nuremberg” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “violent content involving the Holocaust, strong disturbing images, suicide, some language, smoking and brief drug content.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes scenes of real-life graphic footage of victims of Nazi concentration camps, partially nude dead bodies, scenes of discovering men after they committed suicide, a man being executed by hanging, anti-Semitic rhetoric including a sexual anti-Semitic comment, many discussions of violence and murders committed during the Holocaust, discussions of opiate abuse, and some strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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During the Nuremberg trials after World War II, a psychiatrist (Rami Malek) evaluates and becomes fascinated with the indicted Nazi officials, especially Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe), as Justice Robert Jackson (Michael Shannon) prepares to prosecute them for crimes against humanity. Also with Richard E. Grant and Leo Woodall. Directed by James Vanderbilt. Many lines of dialogue are spoken in German, both with and without translation. [Running Time: 2:28]

Nuremberg SEX/NUDITY 4

 – Several B&W scenes show prisoners of Nazi concentration camps nude or partially dressed (we see bare torsos and buttocks); a nude man is shown being hosed off (he is in shadow; we do not see and clear nudity), and we also see the bare torsos of several dead men who had been executed for war crimes (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details).
► A psychiatrist shows an imprisoned man a Rorschach test; he describes several inkblots as vaginas and one as a “Jewish vagina.” A man describes a wealthy friend of his father’s, whose wealth gave him the power to move the family into his castle and to “enjoy” the man’s mother whenever he wanted.
► Two men watch admiringly as a woman walks by; one man asks who she is, and the other man replies, “That’s a very attractive woman.” A man says, “I have the finest physique in Germany, just ask my wife.”

Nuremberg VIOLENCE/GORE 7

 – Actual very graphic footage of Nazi concentration camps is shown in a courtroom: we see starving and ailing people, emaciated and dying from tuberculosis and other diseases, as well as piles of emaciated and naked corpses, including a pile so large that a bulldozer is used to push the bodies into a mass grave. We see inside cremation ovens, which hold partially burnt human remains, with bones visible. Several men are sentenced to death for war crimes; we later see their dead bodies piled together, and one man’s face is bloody.
► A man is put to death by hanging; he shouts and weeps as the noose and bag are placed over his head, and we see him plummet through the trapdoor and then hear him choke and gasp; someone pulls on his body until his neck breaks (we hear the crack), and we see his swinging feet and urine pouring from his pant leg to the floor.
► Imprisoned men commit suicide in several scenes; one man is found with a makeshift rope around his neck and underwear in his mouth as a gag and a man says that he must have made a rope from a towel, stuffed the underwear in his mouth to keep from screaming, and then leaned forward until he suffocated, describing him as determined to die. A man is found lying on his bed with drool on his cheek after taking a cyanide capsule; we see him crunch the capsule before he dies. A man suffers from a heart attack: we see him clutching his chest and hyperventilating and he knocks things from a desk as he collapses and a doctor attempts to help him calm his breathing.
► A man jumps from a plane with a parachute, we see the plane crash and explode behind him and he breaks his ankle when he lands; farmers find him and it is implied that they beat him with shovels (we later see him bloody and bruised). An imprisoned man begins to scream and is restrained by several guards and when a psychiatrist attempts to calm him down, the man gets an arm free and punches the doctor in the face, who collapses to the ground; we later see him with a bruised face. People get into physical altercations in a few scenes shoving each other into walls or beginning to wrestle each other before being separated.
► Many scenes show wartime destruction: bombed cities, smoldering wreckage, burnt-out cars, and refugees leaving an area with carts containing their belongings. Warships are shown being shot at, bombed and sinking. A car approaches a group of soldiers, who raise rifles and shout at the car to stop; the driver raises his hands and waves a white cloth out the window in surrender. A soldier urinates on a piece of metal with an image of a swastika (we see the urine striking the metal but do not see nudity).
► People refer to how many people died in World War II, including 6 million Jewish, Romani, and disabled people who were murdered in concentration camps; they also reference the horrors of concentration camps and the Nazi slave labor “program,” including people dying from starvation, shootings, beatings, being mauled by dogs, diseases like tuberculosis, gas poisoning, freezing, and being thrown from cliffs; a voiceover in real-life footage describes “human skeletons too weak to move.” A man tells another man, “You are going to hang until you [scatological term deleted] yourself and die.” Several scenes depict anti-Semitic propaganda and imagery, and several people make anti-Semitic comments; one man tells a psychiatrist that he can “smell the Jew.” A man describes fleeing from Germany as a child when anti-Semitic rhetoric grew worse, being separated from his family, and eventually finding out that his parents had been killed at Auschwitz. A man on trial for war crimes attempts to claim that Nazi concentration camps were “only labor camps” and that he had no idea prisoners were being systematically murdered. People discuss whether members of the Nazi regime should be executed without a trial and talk about shooting and hanging them. In many scenes, people discuss the risk of men trying to commit suicide before they face trial for war crimes. People refer to Nazi officials committing suicide by eating cyanide capsules. A man describes being shot several times in the past, including in the hip and groin and he says he still has a bullet in his hip. An on-screen text epilogue describes a man who struggled with depression for many years and ultimately committed suicide by cyanide.

Nuremberg LANGUAGE 4

 – At least 8 scatological terms, 9 mild obscenities, name-calling (dumb, dummy, moron, son of a gun), 3 religious profanities (GD), 3 religious exclamations (e.g. Jesus Christ, Christ). | profanity glossary |

Nuremberg SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man asks a doctor to identify a bottle of pills and the doctor takes one and says they are an opiate and not for a heart condition and that he is a “fan” of the drug himself, and a man reportedly takes 40 pills a day and the doctor says he must have a drug problem. People drink liquor in many scenes, a man appears to be inebriated in a few scenes, and a man’s hand appears to shake while drinking tea with brandy. People smoke cigarettes in many scenes throughout the movie.

Nuremberg DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – World War II, the Holocaust, Nazi regime, concentration camps and murder, war crimes, crimes against humanity, Nuremberg trials, legal ethics, suicide, depression, drug abuse, family separation, grief.

Nuremberg MESSAGE

 – While the Nazis were unquestionably evil, any nation, not just Germany, can succumb to malignant narcissists who will do anything to gain power.