DENIAL (2016) – Review

With the arrival of Fall and Winter comes a return to more serious subject matter at movie theatres, and another look at events occurring during World War II. However, this new release really addresses the legacy of those events, a look back at history and those who document it. And the film is, in many ways, a courtroom thriller set in the British legal system, where the powdered wigs aren’t the only thing different from the US legal proceedings. However, the person on trial there is from the states, a professor suddenly burdened with presenting proof of one of the past century’s greatest tragedies, all at the beginning of this relatively new century. Yes, this WW II-themed docudrama take place less than twenty years ago, 50 years after the end of the war, when this woman accused must defend her belief that her accuser is in DENIAL.

The woman in question is Deborah Lipstadt (Rachel Weisz), a professor of Jewish history at Atlanta’s Emory University. When we meet her in the mid 1990’s, she is preparing to conduct a lecture about the Holocaust to a packed auditorium of students. Unknown to her, several men near the back entrance are setting up a video camera. They are led by British author and self-described historian David Irving (Timothy Spall). When Lipstadt concludes her lecture and takes questions from the audience, Irving identifies himself and confronts her about Lipstadt’s recent book in which he is profiled, “Denying the Holocaust”. He challenges her to a debate. When she dismisses him, Irving begins handing out pamphlets and fliers to the stunned students. Later, in 1996, Lipstadt is shocked to receive legal papers. Irving is suing her and her publisher, Penguin Books, in an English court for libel, saying his professional reputation as been damaged by being labeled a Holocaust denier. She begins to try to navigate the unfamiliar legal system, on in which she must prove her innocence (here that burden of proof is on the accuser). Traveling to London, Lipstadt engages a legal team led by Anthony Julius (Andrew Scott), with barrister Richard Rampton (Tom Wilkinson) to represent the defense in court. Over the next months Lipstadt raises the needed research funds which enable them to get a tour conducted by architect/ historian Professor Robert Jan van der Pelt of the camps at Auschwitz. As the trial date nears, they learn that Irving will be representing himself. The team begins a legal strategy, arguing to have the case decided by a lone judge, Sir Charles Gray (Alex Jennings). But, much to Lipstadt’s dismay, she is advised not to testify and not call several camp survivors as witnesses. Far more is at stake than monetary damages, the door may be opened for a large-scale re-writing of history.

As the audience surrogate (for the non-Brits), Weisz delivers a strong, but humanizing performance. Lipstadt is most definitely the hero of the tale, and she shows us her courage and determination, but also the trepidation. That steadfast stance of stone often returns to clay, but she never backs down. Weisz conveys her heartbreak and frustration over not testifying and having to turn away passionate survivors. It’s a nuanced performance worthy of an Oscar nom, as are her main three male co-stars (it’s a shame that Supporting Actor is limited to five). A film’s got to have a strong villain, and Spall is absolutely spellbinding as the man facing Weisz in court. He scowls from the sidelines in the opening lecture ambush, then strikes from afar, a spider wrapping Weisz in his web. Yes Spall shows him as a bully, but he lets us peer behind the curtain at a man whose ego seems to be boundless (look at all those journals). The money flow from the loss of his publishing ties wounds him, but Spall portrays, with his “I’m really a nice, lil’ guy” manner”, wants desperately to be respected as an academic, someone to be studied and celebrated. His courtroom adversary is the always remarkable Wilkinson as a true legal “pitbull”, but still retaining a child’s curiosity. It’s a true balancing act, as Rampton tries to keep focused on the trial, as the horrors of history tears at his psyche. Lipstadt is often aggravated by his lack of emotion at the camp site, but Wilkinson shows us a man who must keep his anguish buried. Much like the talented Andrew Scott, a superb Moriarty on TV’s “Sherlock”, he must hide his feelings, but it’s beneath a dour expression. Julius never wants his team to settle in and become over-confident. He knows their cause is noble, but he never assumes that the courts will be swayed easily, an attitude he tries to instill in Lipstadt. Kudos to Jennings who make the judge a mysterious, inscrutable figure, a stance that makes his late in the trial observation the legal version of a live grenade.

Director Mick Jackson returns from “TV town” with an assured sense of pace and storytelling style. During the camp tour he uses some stylized visuals and editing (flashes of suffering and writhing ghosts), but shoots the courtroom as a modern-day battle arena with barristers as gladiators, reminding us of Hitchcock’s WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION. The camera smoothly glides from actor to actor, knowing just when to lock down for impact, particularly for the verbal showdown between Irving and Rampton. It’s a sequence that crackles with energy, thanks in large part to the riveting screenplay by David Hare. There may not be enough scenes of the legal team formulating a plan, and too many of Lipstadt pacing in her posh hotel suite, but the final act and denouncement help balance the story, one so very recent. Thanks to the incredible cast, DENIAL is a compelling, riveting look at history and its various interpreters.
4 Out of 5

DENIAL opens everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas