This international collaboration was originally filmed in English, French, Italian, and German. It appears to play automatically in the originally filmed languages, switching from German to English with no other reason beyond the actors’ languages (meetings of the SS are conducted in English, for example). This particular plot focuses on the religious objection to the extermination of the Jews.
Ulrich Tukur is the top-billed German actor, playing Kurt Gerstein. More on Tukur can be found in the post on Die Weiße Rose.
Gerstein’s father is played by Friedrich von Thun, who was born in Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Perhaps most famously in the U.S., he can be found in Schindler’s List. Beyond that, he was in Die Apothekerin, and even the 2019 Benjamin Blümchen film. He’s been fairly active since the late 1950s.
Ulrich Mühe plays the doctor. He can also be found in Das Leben der Anderen, Schtonk, and many other films from 1981 until his death in 2007.
Hanns Zischler, playing Grawitz, has recently made a recurring appearance in Babylon Berlin. He’s also in Zettl, Heil, Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei, Das Mädchen Rosemarie, and many others dating back to the late 1960s.
Even Sebastian Koch, whom we know from Stauffenberg, has an important role as Höss. The list of German actors goes on, even with such an international cast.
In a course where such discussion may be appropriate (perhaps at the university level), using this film as a backdrop to discuss the mixture of politics and faith may lead to some good links, including to current events.
As an international film, there are points of non-sexual nudity in places difficult to skip in the moment, such as in the first few minutes while nuns are preparing children for the showers, but most of these points are at the beginning.