By Romey Norton - February 3, 2025
On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. Shortly thereafter, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for the abduction of children from Ukraine and for associated war crimes. October 7, 2023, Hamas launches a cruel massacre of Israeli civilians. Israel responds with the largest-ever offensive against Gaza. With the threat of the war escalating something has to change. War and Justice is the eye-opening documentary film shedding light on those who try to stop war and make those responsible accountable.
War and Justice delves into the devastation caused by international conflicts across the world by following the 20-year journey of prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, and the International Criminal Court (ICC), on their controversial mission to end crimes against humanity. This story is one of a kind, showcasing a true story that’s incredibly thought-provoking. While this documentary is important and informative, there is distressing footage of children and adults being hurt, tortured and killed in war, so viewer discretion is advised.
War and Justice is narrated by Moreno-Ocampo who gently takes us through the history of modern war and how the ICC was formed, what it wants to accomplish and what it has achieved since it began. We get to see inside the international court, on a real case, and how they are conducted which made me feel privy to conversations that I shouldn’t have been in and in rooms where the average person doesn’t go.
We get unprecedented access to Ben Ferencz, Luis Moreno Ocampo (ICC’s first prosecutor), and Karim Khan (its current prosecutor) with first-class interviews that feel uncensored and honest. We watch as Ocampo travels around the world gathering support from people like Academy Award-winning Angelina Jolie in battle against wars in the Congo, Libya, Palestine, and Ukraine. There’s a lot of use of archive footage from many wars including WWII. There is also the distressing and disturbing images of the Western soldiers posing with bodies of people they were capturing during the Iraq war. The speeches from Tony Blair and George Bush make my skin crawl.
The goal is to stop war-making, but war is about making money. Taking money from everyday people and putting it into the pockets of arms dealers. While watching the complexities of international law are explained, and you night learn more about 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 recognise the ICC’s jurisdiction. It’s a constant uphill battle, and hopefully this documentary film sheds light on the ICC’s work and will influence people to discuss it at large and maybe more good can be done.
Overall, War and Justice is a powerful piece of film. It’s ground-breaking and needs to be watched. Created by Marcus Vetter and Michele Gentile War and Justice is dedicated to Ben Ferencz, the youngest chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials who spent his life fighting to replace war with justice, who sadly passed away at the age of 103 just before this film was about to debut. Many continue to fight his good fight.
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