Movie: Denial

Denial: a British film about an individual who denied the Holocaust and sued for liable in an English court an American academic who published a book calling him a Holocaust denier.   The individual is Daniel Irving, played marvelously by Timothy Spall.  The American is Deborah Lipstadt (Rachel Weisz).  The film is based on her book: History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier.  This true story was more entertaining than the subject matter would lead you to believe.   Partly, this is due to how much you will loath the Irving character.   It is not just that he is publicizing a hideous lie but is doing so with a smugness that is incredible to watch.    A second reason is the performance by the British barrister employed to defend Lipstadt.   Tom Wilkinson, who has given many fine performances, is at his best and basically carries the final third of this 110 minute movie.  The third factor is that if you ever wondered about the importance of who has the obligation to prove a fact in a courtroom, this is your film.   While the legal technicalities get a little muddied, the key to why Irving sued Lipstadt in England and not America is that in England, Lipstadt had to prove that Irving knew he was a liar as opposed to the American rule which would require Irving to prove that Lipstadt was knowingly making false comments about him.   This results in this being a film about how you prove the existence of the Holocaust without the testimony of Holocaust victims.  The lawyers did not want to give Irving the opportunity to cross-examine Holocaust survivors.   A fourth reason to see the film is the sequence when Lipstadt and her attorneys, including Wilkinson, visit Auschwitz.   The pre-dawn presentation of the grounds with a blanket of snow and fog is a beautifully shot scene and makes the point as to why the falsity of a big lie propaganda by someone like Irving needed to be proven to be false in a court of law.  The film was directed by Mick Jackson from a screenplay by David Hare.   The cinematographer was Haris Zambarloukos.     While I knew the outcome without seeing the film, the movie held my attention due to the skill of the two actors.