Respond to these rapid questions in our Denial quiz and we will tell you which Denial character you are. Play it now.
There is a slimy, self-aggrandizing upper-class blowhard of a bigot at the nasty center of the otherwise dutiful “Denial.” This bigot believes he has every right to circulate hateful and hurtful falsehoods to his followers, who include white supremacists and Neo-Nazis, without suffering consequences or being called out for his actions. “Denial” is otherwise a very dutiful film.
Anyone who has been paying attention to the ongoing presidential campaign might feel as though they are hearing something they have heard before. However, it would appear that the strategy of asserting a falsehood over and over again in a loud enough voice for it to be heard by everyone is not a new one.
The historical event that is being negated in this morally charged legal procedural is a whopper way beyond the usual pale: that Adolf Hitler never ordered the extermination of six million European Jews during World War II. The “birther” movement might be despicable, but the historical event that is being negated in this morally charged legal procedural is a whopper way beyond the usual pale. In other words, there was no such thing as the Holocaust.
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I highly doubt that the filmmakers, including seasoned director Mick Jackson (whose varied resume includes 1992’s “The Bodyguard” and 2010’s HBO biopic “Temple Grandin”) and screenwriter David Hare (“The Hours”), knew that their timing would be so perfect when they were making the film eight years ago. At that point, they started adapting the first-hand account of the libel lawsuit that had been brought against American academic and author Deborah E. Lipstadt in 1996 by British historian and Holocaust denier David Irving. Lipstadt is from the United States.
Denial Quiz
But the simmering dramatics behind “Denial” never quite reach the satisfying boil of righteous indignation and justice served that was felt in last year’s similar “Spotlight,” the expose about the uncovering of the pedophile priest scandal in the Catholic Church. This is despite two terrifically nuanced performances by its male leads and a good try by its somewhat miscast female star.
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The first public encounter between Lipstadt (Rachel Weisz, radiating intense intelligence but too soon turned into a bystander) and Irving (John Lithgow) takes place at the beginning of the movie (Timothy Spall, greedily soaking up the attention and grandly oozing smug know-it-all-ness from every pore). The forthright and outspoken native of Queens is giving a talk about her new book on Holocaust deniers at Emory University in Atlanta, where she teaches Jewish studies. The event is in conjunction with her research for the book. The scheming Irving, along with several other individuals who were videotaping the lecture, interrupted her presentation and attempted to engage her in a debate. When she refused to indulge him, Irving seized the opportunity to take center stage by making a cash offer of $1,000 to anyone who could prove that Jews were murdered at Auschwitz by the Nazis using gas chambers.
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Soon after, Lipstadt finds out that Irving is suing her as well as the publishing company Penguin for libel because she referred to him as a Holocaust denier in her work. This results in the case being tried in England, which, unlike the United States, maintains the presumption that defendants are guilty until they are proven innocent. The burden of proof is on the side of the good guys, which essentially means that the author and her legal team must somehow provide evidence that the Holocaust really occurred. This will not be an easy task to accomplish given that the Nazis made it a point to destroy signs of their horrific genocide.
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A decision that is ultimately made to keep the audience at bay as well is to tell the story primarily from the point of view of Lipstadt’s Yankee fish-out-of-water character. This choice is highlighted by her heavy accent and rust-colored perm. The British legal system with its wigs and robes requires a solicitor (Andrew Scott, best known as Moriarty on TV’s “Sherlock,” as a defamation expert who once represented Princess Diana in her divorce and is tasked with coming up with the strategy) and a barrister. Rather than having a single defense lawyer, the British legal system with its wigs and robes requires a solicitor and a barrister (Tom Wilkinson, who singlehandedly elevates the third act with a towering display of human resolve, dedication and decency as a libel expert who presents the argument in court). However, other aspects of the case have caused Lipstadt an even greater amount of consternation. Even though Irving is acting as his own representative in court, she will not be testifying, and no living Holocaust survivors will be called as witnesses (we are told this is to protect them from being humiliated by Irving, but you have to believe they have withstood much worse). Instead of a jury, a judge will be the sole decider of the verdict. In addition, no living Holocaust survivors will be called as witnesses.
You shouldn’t expect to see a depiction of the colorful shenanigans behind the scenes that drove the enormous popularity of the television show “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story,” even though the lawsuit has attracted rabid press coverage all over the world. In a manner very similar to that of Lipstadt, viewers are only privy to the inner workings of the defense in bits and pieces here and there. It is true that Irving comes up with a catchy slogan that is similar to the most famous phrase that O.J. Simpson’s attorney Johnny Cochran ever said, which was “If the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit.” In this instance, the saying “No holes, no Holocaust” refers to the hypothesis that the Nazis’ concentration camp gas chambers did not have any openings in the rooftops through which they could have dropped poison pellets. It is intended for us to have the impression that everything might be lost when we see reporters racing out the door to call in the headline-ready refrain. If that were the case, however, there would be no point in making this movie in the first place.
What we do get instead is the extremely rare occurrence of a location shoot in a fictional film being done at the actual Auschwitz. If there is one thing that Jackson gets right, it is the solemn manner in which he treats the visit to the site that was made by Lipstadt and her lawyers. It is one of the few times that “Denial” vividly drives home what is at stake in this lawsuit, and it is first seen in the pre-dawn darkness with a blanket of snow and eerie pockets of fog. This scene is significant because it is one of the few times that “Denial” does so. When you add to that the footage of mountainous piles of shoes and eyeglasses that are encased behind glass as part of an exhibit, it is difficult not to become at least partially invested in the outcome of the movie. These scenes, as well as the look of utter revulsion that washes over Wilkinson’s face as he refuses to make eye contact with Spall’s Irving while delivering his final verbal coup d’etat, are the saving grace of a film that too often denies its audience the opportunity to feel the same emotions as the characters on screen.
For more personality quizzes check this: The Meddler Quiz.
