There are some films where the worthy subject-matter allows me to ignore the poorer aspects of what I'm seeing. It's the opposite of admiring a Leni Riefenstahl film I suppose (I've deliberately never seen one for that very reason).
There are faults in this film. Some of the performances are a bit stagey, the film's pacing is uneven and the messages are rammed home with little subtlety and are overly preachy. But the film is important and dramatic and features some magnificent performances (most importantly from Montgomery Clift, Spencer Tracy and Maximilian Schell but also- a pleasant surprise for me this- a subtler-than-usual Burt Lancaster).
For telling a complex, important and challenging story with clarity and impact- 7/10.
