Denial 2016

     This film is based on the book History on Trial: My Day in Court with Holocaust Denier by Deborah E. Lipstadt.  Author and British historian David Irving has accused Lipstadt of libel because she declared him a Holocaust denier.  Even though he is a denier, he has sued in the English legal system.  The burden of proof is on the accused and Lipstadt’s legal team needs to walk a very fine line to prove that Irving is a denier.  Lipstadt wants to and she usually calls the shots but she can’t in this trial.  She’s out of her element in England.

     There is the idea that a lie repeated often enough and loud enough can become the truth?  Irving has written and lectured that Adolf Hitler never ordered the extermination of six million European Jews during WWII.  He states there were never gas chambers and the Holocaust did not happen.  There won’t be a jury because the legal team and Irving believe the common people could not decide on this case?  A single judge will take his time and issue a verdict.  There is a scene with Lipstadt, Barrister Richard Rampton and her team at the actual Auschwitz historical site.  The courtroom scenes are tense and moving because Lipstadt and her team are not allowed to speak.  Only David Irving, Barrister Richard Rampton and the judge can speak.  

109 min, Bio directed by Mick Jackson with Rachel Weisz, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Spall, Andrew Scott, Jack Lowden, Caren Pistorius, Alex Jennings, Harriet Walter, Mark Gatiss, John Sessions, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Pip Carter.

Note:  Imdb 6.6 out of 10, 83% critic 71% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 2 ½*, Amazon 4.3* out of 5* with 288 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Malopolskie, Poland and London, England, UK.  The dialogue used in the courtroom scenes is taken verbatim from the trial records.  The statue that Lipstadt sees on two of her jogging trips is the statue of Boadicea and Her Daughters on the Westminster Pier.  Boadicea was a famous warrior queen who led an unsuccessful uprising against the Romans.  The case was filed in 1996 but it did not go to trial until the early months of 2000.  The verdict was announced in April of 2000.  This is the first film directed by Mick Jackson in 14 years.  He last directed The First $20 Million is Always the Hardest in 2002.  He directed straight to TV movie Temple Grandin of 2010.