Have watched Denial which is a film (now out on DVD) about a defamation case brought by David Irving (Timothy Spall) against Deborah Lipstadt (Rachel Weisz) for discrediting him in her book.
He claimed that the Jewish Holocaust of World War II was a lie to promote sympathy for the Jewish state. The film is based on Lipstadt’s book History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier.
I remember when this story broke out circa 2000. I was infuriated with Irving’s claim that the Holocaust did not happen. The eventual judgment of the trial was naturally a relief.
The film of the story isn’t a hard-headed courtroom drama which is what it should be. It lingers on the sentimentality of the story especially at the Auschwitz sites. Lipstadt is often given to moralizing and sentimentality. For a drama which established itself as going to deliver the goods in an uncompromising way, it falls short.
However, in the courtroom scenes and moments around the trial, it regains your faith that this is undoubtedly an important story and a story about when justice and truth wins the day.
Denial, Year: 2016, Starring: Rachel Weisz, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Spall, Andrew Scott, Director: Mick Jackson, Rated PG-13 for thematic material and brief strong language
My response: Better one–with reservation. Experience positive and negative, virtue positive.
