(UK/USA, 110 min.)
Dir. Mick Jackson, Writ. David Hare
Starring: Rachel Weisz, Timothy Spall, Tom Wilkinson
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| Rachel Weisz stars as Deborah Lipstadt in Denial. Elevation Pictures |
Deborah Lipstadt’s story remains another ominous tale that’s
all too relevant in the age of Donald Trump. The case recalls a lawsuit that
began in 1996 and ran until 2000 in which British writer/hack academic David
Irving sued Lipstadt and Penguin Books for the author’s 1993 publication Denying the Holocaust. Lipstadt’s book
shares some rather unflattering words about Mr. Irving’s insistence on
repudiating the crimes committed by the Nazis against Jews and other
“undesirables” in the events of World War II. Nowadays, he might call her a “nasty
woman,” or something to that effect, for being so brash as to take a stand or speak her mind. In an age of racist presidential campaigns
and unfiltered opinions, the fight that Lipstadt brings to her defense makes
for a rousing and essential courtroom drama.
Colleagues, peers, and lawyers encourage Lipstadt to settle because the British legal system works contrary to the American one. Rather than face the courts with a presumption of innocence, Lipstadt must disprove Irving’s claim and prove that denying the atrocities of WW2 is a conscious lie. In short, to defend her case is to let Irving put the Holocaust on trial.
Rachel Weisz (Youth)
plays the American Lipstadt with fiery gumption and conviction. She’s the kind
of engaged academic one sees too rarely in scholarship as her passion and
frankness aren’t simply for lectures and publications. As a professor of
history and Jewish studies, she knows that far more than her name and
reputation are at stake. To accept a settlement is to sell out the six million
dead and countless survivors. That’s a lot of weight for anyone and Weisz carries
Lipstadt’s burden with the sincerity of a true warrior ready for a fight.
At Weisz’s side is Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton), who gives a masterfully subdued performance yet
as Richard Rampton, Lipstadt’s lawyer who accepts the challenge to build a case
to prove the history that Irving denies. Rampton takes the difficult but
necessary approach of confronting the history of the Holocaust without any emotional
attachments or burdens. This choice is far easier a task for him than it is for
Lipstadt, especially when they take a field trip to Auschwitz and he bemoans
the lack of official forensic analysis at a site of mass murder within the half
century passed. The visit to Auschwitz sees one of several cracks in Lipstadt’s
composure as she insists upon respecting the dead by refusing to entertain
Irving’s line of inquiry. Similarly, Rampton’s choice to withhold testimony
from concentration camp survivors enrages Lipstadt, for she believes that
survivors have the right to provide the evidence of her experience. He, on the
other hand, finds the idea of letting a Holocaust denier cross-examine
survivors is to give Irving the very circus he craves by choosing to represent
himself in court.
As both a legal and moral case, the competing strategies and
philosophies of Lipstadt and Rampton make for a genuinely dynamic duo. Like
Cindy Blackstock who fights for children’s rights in Alanis Obomsawin’s We Can’t Make the Same Mistake Twice,
Lipstadt and Rampton are among the true superheroes at the movies this year,
fighting for humanity, dignity, and justice in the world’s courts. Wilkinson’s
performance is especially fine in this regard as his Rampton refuses to see eye-to-eye
with his co-council. By avoiding Spall’s eye-line throughout the duration of
his performance in the courtroom, Wilkinson conveys personal and professional
disgust against the plaintiff as Irving mounts his undignified charges.
As played by the great Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner), David Irving is a surprisingly charismatic man despite
the vehement racism of his beliefs, like the headline-friendly challenge of “No
holes, no Holocaust” concerning shafts in which Nazis would dispense cyanide
into gas chambers at Auschwitz. Given the manner and composure of Spall’s
performance, and the deadpan genuineness with which he delivers the utter
nonsense of Irving’s arguments, one almost sympathises with him for being so consumed
by his distorted beliefs. He’s a challenging foil, but an especially relevant
one as more platforms build for radicals to disseminate false claims.
While there’s nothing cinematically sophisticated with Denial—it’s a perfectly conventional
courtroom drama—the script by David Hare (The
Reader) is expertly attune to character details and the emotional, intellectual,
historical, and philosophical charges of Lipstadt’s defense. The three stars
anchor the film with a trio of excellent performances, too, so one can’t really
mind the by-the-numbers direction when the writing and the acting are too great
to deny.
Denial is now playing in limited release.
