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WAR AND JUSTICE
A film by MARCUS VETTER and Michele Gentile with Benjamin Ferencz, Luis Moreno Ocampo, Fatou Bensouda, Karim Khan and Joanna Frivet – Dedicated to Ben Ferencz, the youngest chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials who spent his life fighting to replace war with justice. In this groundbreaking documentary, through unprecedented access WAR AND JUSTICE capture the riveting 20 year journey of legendary prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo - and the International Criminal Court (ICC) at its inception, on their controversial mission to end crimes against humanity. Can justice replace war as a mechanism for resolving conflict?
On February 24, 2022, Russia invades Ukraine. Shortly thereafter, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issues an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for the abduction of children from Ukraine and for associated war crimes. Fast-forward to October 7, 2023. Hamas launches a cruel massacre of Israeli civilians. Israel responds with the largest-ever offensive against Gaza. The war threatens to escalate. ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan travels to the Middle East. And he announces that he will prosecute war crimes of any kind, on both sides. The documentary WAR AND JUSTICE tells the 25-year history of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in its mission to end the most serious crimes against humanity. But once war is launched, can the ensuing crimes be prevented at all? Or is former Nuremberg prosecutor Ben Ferencz right when he says that the greatest war crime of all is war itself?
War and Justice is the first and only true-life documentary about the International Criminal Court (ICC), thanks to unprecedented access to Ben Ferencz, Luis Moreno Ocampo (ICC’s first prosecutor), and Karim Khan (its current prosecutor). Film directors Marcus Vetter and Michele Gentile follow Ocampo around the world as he enlists the support of Academy Award-winning Angelina Jolie and as they join Ferencz in the uphill battle against wars in the Congo, Libya, Palestine, and Ukraine. In the course of the film, the complexities of international law are given a face, and the viewer understands why those who launch wars of aggression, the mother of all war crimes, can hardly be brought to justice while the world’s largest military powers — China, India, Russia, and the United States — remain unwilling to recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction.Sadly, just as the film is about to debut, Ferencz dies at the age of 103. But Ocampo and Khan fight on in his honor, more determined than ever to put an end to all wars of aggression. Because war begets revenge; justice does not.
In July 1998, 120 states decided to transform the legacy of Nuremberg into a permanent institution, something that had never been done before. They pledged to prevent and punish the most serious crimes against the international community — crimes against humanity, genocide, war crimes, and the mother of all such crimes, wars of aggression. To help ensure the protection of victims, they created the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, vowing to intervene when member states fail to act. Argentine lawyer Luis Moreno Ocampo becomes the ICC’s first chief prosecutor, devoting ten long years to justice for war criminals globally. Ultimately, Ocampo hands over his post to successor Fatou Bensouda, but later returns to Europe for the first time to address the world community with a keynote speech in the same place where the prosecution of war criminals first began — Nuremburg Courtroom 600.
“Can justice replace war as a mechanism for resolving conflict?” asks Ocampo. His answer: Only with global popular support, for which films can play a critical role. Judgment at Nuremberg, the epic 1961 courtroom drama about the trials, opened the eyes of millions to the horrors of the Holocaust. Argentina 1985, released last year, showing young Ocampo as he helps prosecute atrocities by the military junta, enlightens new generations about the true difference between democracy and dictatorship. Likewise, War and Justice, following the International Criminal Court through the eyes of its chief prosecutors, sheds new light on the vicious cycle of violence that seems to be engulfing the world of the 2020s. Today, the ICC is more needed than ever before in its quarter-century history. Indeed, when Russia invaded Ukraine, 43 member states asked the ICC to intervene. Ukraine promptly accepted the court’s jurisdiction to investigate possible war crimes and crimes against humanity. But for the crime of aggression, Prosecutor Karim Kahn cannot bring Russia’s leaders to justice because of a 2017 amendment to the ICC’s statute requiring the consent of the aggressor. Nor can he prosecute wars of aggression by non-member states in the Middle East.
In the genre of a judicial thriller, the film tells how the first internationally legitimized criminal court investigates war criminals. These include cases such as the suppression of the Arab Spring in Libya, possible war crimes in the Gaza war and the recruitment of child soldiers in the Congo. The actress Angelina Jolie and UN special envoy and one of the former chief prosecutors at the Nuremberg trials, Ben Ferencz, are traveling to The Hague especially for the first trial against the Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga Dyilo. They want to support this young court and its acceptance by the public. Ben Ferencz, who died in April this year at the age of 103, spent his life fighting for wars of aggression to be classified as war crimes themselves. In his view, all wars lead to atrocities against the civilian population, which is unavoidable in today’s hybrid warfare.
How can mankind escape the vicious cycle of violence? What is the path forward? War and Justice provides some of the first truly viable answers.
The much-anticipated documentary War and Justice premiered on June 6, 2024, at the Kino Museum in Tübigen (Germany). The film chronicles the 25-year history of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its relentless mission to end the most serious crimes against humanity.
The Q&A took place after the official premiere on June 6, 2024
with Luis Moreno Ocampo (Former Chief Prosecutor of the ICC)
Herta Däubler-Gmelin (Former German Minister of Justic)
and Directors Marcus Vetter and Michele Gentile
moderated by Marc Friedrich
Marcus Vetter is an acclaimed director known for his compelling documentaries that often tackle complex social and political issues. His previous works have garnered numerous awards and international recognition.
Luis Moreno Ocampo served as the first prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, (2003-2012) playing a pivotal role in its establishment and early cases. Previously, he was the deputy prosecutor in the trial against the Argentina military junta, a case presented in an Amazon movie “Argentina,1985.”
Herta Däubler Gmelin is an honorary professor of political science at the Free University of Berlin, focusing on international relations and human rights. Between 1998 and 2002 she was the German Federal Minister of Justice, and between 1972 and 2009 she was a member of the Bundestag.
Marc Friedrich is Germany’s most successful non-fiction author (including six bestsellers in a row) and financial expert, as well as a well-known thought leader with a large following on YouTube, radio and TV. Mr. Friedrich has successfully advised private individuals, companies, top athletes, actors, family offices, foundations and pension funds on asset protection, asset allocation and crisis prevention for over a decade.
War and Justice provides an unfiltered look into the ICC, Directed by Marcus Vetter and Michele Gentile, the film opens with the ICC’s landmark arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin amidst the ongoing Ukraine conflict, charging him with crimes against humanity. The film follows Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the ICC’s first prosecutor, and the late Benjamin Ferencz, the youngest chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials as they prosecute Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, the former President of the Union des Patriotes Congolais/Forces Patriotiques pour la Libération du Congo, for the war crimes of enlisting and conscripting children under the age of 15 as child soldiers. Tony Asankomah of GhMovieFreak describes it as
“a powerful and evocative documentary…which serves as a rallying cry for global action against the horrors of war.”
The film traces the evolution of the ICC from its inception, highlighting its efforts to bring justice to war-torn regions with the hope of preventing future atrocities. It invites viewers into two decades of the ICC’s work to hold those who commit crimes against humanity accountable. The film concludes with Karim Khan, the current ICC prosecutor, traveling to Beirut in the aftermath of the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas to warn against committing war crimes after Israel declared war against Hamas.
“At the time we were making this documentary, we did not understand the magnitude of the impact this film would play to help people understand the crucial role of the ICC in holding perpetrators of war crimes accountable. This importance is underscored as the ICC is in the news again, requesting a new set of warrants for war crimes for Israel and Hamas.”
Marcus Vetter
Morgan Rojan of Cinemacy adds,
“War and Justice affirms that the biggest threat to our existence is “aggressive war.”
The premiere was followed by an engaging question and answer session with the audience featuring Marcus Vetter, Michele Gentile, Herta Däubler Gmelin, the former German Minister of Justice and Luis Moreno-Ocampo. The discussion was moderated by bestselling author, Marc Friedrich and was streamed live via YouTube allowing audiences worldwide to participate and engage with the filmmakers and International Law expert, Luis Moreno Ocampo.