Movie Review—Denial

by Peter J. O'Connell                                                                                                                                                    

Denial. Released: Oct. 2016. Runtime: 110 mins. MPAA Rating: PG-13 for thematic material and brief strong language.

Many fine films, both fictitious and fact based, have been made about trials, particularly murder trials. Denial is the fact-based story of a murder trial of sorts, a trial in which the victim of the crime was, in effect, historical truth itself, and the defendant was the defender of the truth.

Deborah Lipstadt (Rachel Weisz) is an American, a Jew and a professor of history who has written critiques of those who deny that the Holocaust—the deliberate murder of six million Jews by order of the Hitler regime--took place. David Irving (Timothy Spall), a British historical writer and one of the most prominent deniers, files suit against Lipstadt in 1996, charging libel.

British libel law differs from American libel law. Shockingly, in the U.K the burden of proof in such cases is on the defendant. Thus, Lipstadt's (and her publisher's) legal team will have to prove at trial that the Holocaust did, in fact, take place and also that Irving's denial of that reality is a purposeful misrepresentation of the facts, a deliberate lie made to support anti-Semitism, not a sincerely held belief based on an interpretation of the facts.

Lipstadt's legal team is a formidable one, with noted barrister Richard Rampton (Tom Wilkinson) and solicitor Andrew Julius (Andrew Scott), Princess Diana's divorce lawyer. Lipstadt, however, faces pressure from two sides. Some members of the “Jewish establishment” would like to see the case soft-pedaled for fear of fomenting anti-Semitism—but the feisty Lipstadt is not a soft-pedaler. Then Holocaust survivors implore Lipstadt to let them testify as to what they personally experienced and witnessed. Lipstadt wants her lawyers to let them do so, but the lawyers adamantly refuse, fearing that Irving, who will be defending himself, would traumatize the survivors. 

The heart of the film is a visit by Lipstadt and her team to the heart of darkness itself: Auschwitz. The sequence is brilliant and moving as the somber team views in pale winter light the bleak barracks and the remains of the crematoria and “shower rooms”---gas chambers.

The trial scenes that follow are gripping. Expert defense witnesses present evidence of the Holocaust but are challenged by the aggressive, rat-faced Irving. Evidence is also produced of Irving's disgusting racism and anti-Semitism. Yet Irving denies holding such views just as he denies that the Holocaust happened. Finally, the case goes to the sitting judge, Sir Charles Gray (Alex Jennings), who has not been particularly assertive during the trial, for his opinion. 

Anyone interested in history—or humanity should not deny himself or herself the experience of seeing this film. Director Mick Jackson strikes the right tone throughout. Weisz and Spall seize your attention and hold it, and the supporting cast all turn in fine performances. For example, Alex Jennings as Sir Charles Gray, though he has few lines of dialogue, is able to convey a sense of what a judicial temperament of high order is like. 

                                                                                                                                                                     “Footnote” to the film: Some have commented that, ironically, the real David Irving actually bears more of a resemblance to Tom Wilkinson than to Timothy Spall. Also, the reference in this review to Spall as Irving being “rat-faced” should not be taken as meaning that Spall himself is, in fact, “rat-faced.” He isn't—but as a talented actor he can contort his features to convey outwardly what the writers and director of the work in which he appears felt to be the inner essence of the character he plays.