Denial

American university professor Deborah E. Lipstadt (Rachel Weisz) has long fought Holocaust denial. Now she, of all people, the champion of historical truths, is being sued for libel in Britain by Holocaust denier David Irving (Timothy Spall). With her team of defense lawyers led by Richard Rampton (Tom Wilkinson), Lipstadt now faces an extremely delicate task: not only must she prove that she is correct in her claim that Irving denies the Holocaust in his works. She must also prove that these horrific murders of Jews by the Nazi regime actually took place. What should be a no-brainer is proving to be an extremely difficult and delicate challenge, as a Rampton victory could have untold consequences. And that must not happen under any circumstances.

Denial tells a true story that took place almost twenty years ago, yet could not be more timely. In an age of Fake News and of populists selling their views as truths, the cinematic adaptation of this trial takes on a whole new, extremely important meaning. Director Mick Jackson and screenwriter David Hare (The Reader) show how important it is to take the wind out of the sails of people like Irving not with emotion, but with incontrovertible facts. For the real Deborah E. Lipstadt, this approach to the trial was extremely difficult, which Rachel Weisz makes very understandable in the film version.

It is to the production's credit that, with the exception of a few moments, it also largely avoids overly emotional moments. The emphasis here is on objectivity and facts. The scenes from the trial then also stick closely to the real court transcripts. Despite this - or perhaps because of it - the whole thing is not dry and too cerebral, but extremely involving. As a viewer, one is not infrequently extremely angry about how such a terrible chapter as the Holocaust can be questioned at all and why a person like David Irving can be allowed to spread his inflammatory views.

However, the film does a very good job of differentiating here, making it clear that this is a price we must be willing to pay for our democracy - always being prepared to counter lies and hatred with clear facts. As understandable as it is that Lipstadt wanted not only to make her own position heard but also to give a voice to Holocaust survivors, it is also plausible and important to argue why exactly that would have been the wrong way to confront someone like David Irving.

Denial is a tense, superbly acted (kudos especially to Timothy Spall!) and very well written courtroom drama that has also become an important film not only because of its extreme timeliness. Its message is a quite universal one that deserves to reach the widest possible audience. That's why I give it a clear: Absolutely worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp