Synopsis
Dedicated to Ben Ferencz, the youngest chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials who spent his life fighting to replace war with justice.War and Justice is the first and only true-life verité thriller, about the International Criminal Court (ICC), enlightened by unprecedented access to Benjamin Ferencz (prosecuting attorney of the Nuremberg Trials), Luis Moreno-Ocampo (ICC’s first prosecutor), and Karim Khan (its current prosecutor).
The film opens with the ICC’s news-breaking arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in the midst of the escalating Ukraine war, charging him with crimes against humanity. It rewinds to the inauguration of first Chief Prosecutor Ocampo. And it proceeds to chronicle the Court’s two decades’ journey as the emerging global authority to punish aggressors and help prevent war.
Through unprecedented access, fllm directors Marcus Vetter and Michele Gentile follow Luis Moreno-Ocampo around the world as he enlists the support of Academy Award-winning Angelina Jolie, as he partners with Benjamin Ferencz, as they together fight uphill battles against wars in the Congo, Libya, Syria and Ukraine, always with special concern for any atrocities against children.
With the three largest world powers — China, Russia and the United States — still unwilling to sign the ICC treaty, will wars of aggression ever be brought to justice?
Sadly, just as the film is about to debut, Ben Ferencz’s lifelong fight has ended. In April 2023, Ben Ferencz died in 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, along with the inevitable human atrocities they cause
With: Luis Moreno Ocampo, Benjamin Ferencz, Karim Khan
WAR AND JUSTICE features music by Bob Dylan.