After the military defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, evidence of its crimes still had to be systematically gathered for the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal. Jean-Christophe Klotz’s methodical documentary “Filmmakers for the Prosecution” retraces the steps of two Office of Strategic Services members tasked with this enormous responsibility: Stuart Schulberg (later a TV producer) and his brother, Budd (who went on to his own storied career in Hollywood).
Part of the movie recounts the travails of documenting the Third Reich in the war’s ruinous aftermath and the challenge of tracking down Nazi records before they could be destroyed. Stuart Schulberg’s nervous letters home express the difficulty of completing the project in time for the trials, which aimed to damn the Nazis with their own imagery. To this point Klotz’s film (which has the feel of a teaching aid) largely belongs to the documentary category of archival adventure, with stories of journeys into a salt mine and encounters with the director Leni Riefenstahl and a high-ranking Soviet fan of John Ford.
But Stuart Schulberg was also commissioned to film the tribunal for the U.S., and so Klotz’s documentary becomes the mother of all “making of” features. Technical ingenuity was required to shoot and light the courtroom and its infamous defendants, who watched the evidence of Third Reich atrocities during the proceedings.
The trial footage became part of Stuart Schulberg’s nearly lost 1948 documentary “Nuremberg: Its Lesson for Today,” which was delayed as American priorities shifted to helping Europe rebuild. It’s all a reminder of the labor and risks that go into creating and preserving essential imagery of the past, even for the most notorious events in history.
Filmmakers for the Prosecution
Not rated. In English and French, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour. In theaters.
