"'Nuremberg: Its Lesson for Today" is a film that is now being distributed at art houses across the country. Internet Movie Data Base, IMDB.Com is the most comprehensive collection of film information in the world. It has extensive descriptions of every film ever commercially made, and those that are now in production.
If you go on the site, and put in the title of this film, you will find this, a detailed description of the film centered on the Nuremberg Trials shot in 1946, that was only released in Germany to advance the de nazification process, and never shown in theaters in this country.
While this film is described as being produced in 1948, the film that is making the rounds in theaters in 2011, is a different remastered version of that film, with a new translation that was produced by Sandra Schulberg, the daughter of the original producer.
This second film, which should be described as, Nuremberg: Its Lesson for Today - The Schulberg/Waletzky Restoration should have it's own place on IMDb. This new version is based on the existing film that was in the public domain and is now copyrighted by it's producers. with a new translation and English narration. This error by IMDB, the conflation of the two films is confirmed by including the picture of the producer who wasn't born when the original film was made, Sandra Shulberg, yet not having her in the list of those who made the film.
I saw the presentation of this film in San Diego with a talk by the producer Ms. Schulberg. Her introduction with extensive background, and then the hour of questions and statements after the film from the audience made this a memorable evening. However in the absence of such discourse, or explanation of the history of the film such as why it was not released due to the changes in the world between the time it was shot in 1946 and first released in Germany in 1948, this original film has no context. It was not released because between the shooting and completion, Germany became our ally against the Soviet Union, and its vilification was no longer in our country's interest.
Ms. Schulberg acknowledged that the advertising that described the original film as being "suppressed" by the United States was not accurate, as anyone could have gone to the library of congress and checked out and watched it, and even made a copy of it. Yet, it is this accusation, the explosive claim of exposing a government coverup, that is being advertised to sell tickets; and she will not be at every showing to explain its inaccuracy.
This film, while showing, among the graphic atrocities, examples of Nazi propaganda is itself an example of our own propaganda of that era. Germans not only always marched in goose step, but the sound was ominously enhanced, sounding the same every time. One of the defendants, contrite and oblivious to the "excesses" as they all claimed to be, stated "It will take a thousand years for Germans to erase the shame of these events."
Ms. Schulberg said in her commentary that she deplores such messages, and the German teenager of today should have no guilt for what happened. As the concept of collective guilt is now in disrepute, certainly even more so is intergenerational guilt.
While graphically showing the reality of the mass suffering of the many groups under the Germans of that day, the film is firmly in the category of propaganda, even though it is the good American kind. The narration clearly states that it was Germany that orchestrated the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. There is a consensus, based on post war examination of the papers of the defeated Axis powers, that this in not true; and that Japan acted not only on its own initiative, but without informing any of their axis allies. By the time this film was edited in 1948, this was known, yet the inertia of the goal of absolute vilification was too embedded in this film to quibble over details, such as historical accuracy.
I am writing this for the purposes of clarification of the complex story of how an enlightened country descended into unspeakable violence, destroying hundreds of millions of lives. The original film is a mosaic of this story, describing how we chose to deal with the perpetrators by advancing the scope of law at Nuremberg, an effort still being made in expanding the International Criminal Court, something Ms. Shulberg strongly endorses.
We should begin by not allowing any further distortions of this latest version of the film, the events it documents, and the dynamics that lead to this great human tragedy are too important to introduce any confusion This film should not be marketed as a disclosure of previously suppressed information. The producer herself rejects the use of this term without qualification
This film is one part of a tragic story of the suffering of WWII, and there certainly is a message for today, but standing alone it simplifies and distorts this story. I had the benefit of being part of such a discussion with the producer, Sandra Schulberg, that explored this context. She is producing a DVD that will have four hours of the extensive commentary that is needed to give this meaning. It's unfortunate that she didn't include part of this analysis in the film that is now being released.