An important reminder, in this time of
“alternative facts” and “fake news”, that never have we needed reliable,
objective research and opinion more. (Review by Patrick Compton - 7)
The Holocaust is an intimidating
subject that both sears our psyches and yet is barely capable of being
conceived of in all its hateful and complex totality.
Denial,
efficiently directed by Mick Jackson and produced by BBC Films, fastens on to a
bite-sized part of the subject in the guise of a true courtroom drama involving
a maverick historian, David Irving, and an American academic, Deborah Lipstadt.
In 1998, Irving sued Lipstadt and her
British publishers, Penguin Books, for calling him a “Holocaust denier” in her
1993 book, Denying the Holocaust: The
Growing Assault on Truth and Memory. Irving, who claimed there were no gas
chambers at Auschwitz and that the Holocaust was a Jewish myth, said he brought
the suit because Lipstadt had hurt his reputation as a historian and
researcher.
The case was brought by Irving in
London which meant that under British law, the burden of proof lay with the
defendant rather than the accuser.
To their consternation, Lipstadt and
her legal team had to focus on disproving Irving’s argument, or effectively
having to prove that the Holocaust existed.
Lipstadt, as played by Rachel Weisz,
is an emotional, mouthy historian who is forced to travel to London to link up
with Penguin’s large team of lawyers and researchers. The irony of the case is
that they decided, for good reason, not to put her on the witness stand or
allow Holocaust survivors to testify. As a result, Lipstadt, the movie’s
central figure, is rendered a silent witness – at least in court – to the drama
that unfolded.
This approach may have worked against
the repellent Irving (played by Timothy Spall as a meretricious trickster with
an impregnable ego), but it doesn’t help the movie’s dramatic impact. The lack
of any real emotional catharsis leaves the film with a frustrating emptiness at
its centre.
English playwright David Hare’s script
relies meticulously on the official record for the courtroom scenes, but it’s
here that the film is least absorbing as Irving is predictably humiliated by
Lipstadt’s well-prepared legal team led by attorney Anthony Julius (Andrew
Scott) and advocate Richard Rampton (Tom Wilkinson).
The most interesting scenes include a
fact-finding visit to Auschwitz where a winter fog shrouds the camp and injects
a chilling note of sadness and horror. There’s also a fascinating, if
frustratingly abbreviated, fund-raising dinner in London where Lipstadt is
turned down by potential Jewish donors who urge her to settle out of court.
The only character to really engage us
on a personal level is Rampton who enjoys some intimate scenes with Lipstadt
around a wine bottle.
If the movie falls fairly flat as a
dramatic exercise, it does offer us a valuable history lesson and an important
reminder, in this time of “alternative facts” and “fake news”, that never have
we needed reliable, objective research and opinion more.
Denial is
currently running at Cinema Nouveau, Gateway Mall. – Patrick Compton
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