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Title: Denial (2016)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Rachel Weisz | ... | ||
| Tom Wilkinson | ... | ||
| Timothy Spall | ... | ||
| Andrew Scott | ... |
Anthony Julius
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| Jack Lowden | ... |
James Libson
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| Caren Pistorius | ... |
Laura Tyler
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| Alex Jennings | ... |
Sir Charles Gray
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| Harriet Walter | ... |
Vera Reich
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| Mark Gatiss | ... |
Professor Robert Jan van der Pelt
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| John Sessions | ... |
Prof. Richard Evans
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| Nikki Amuka-Bird | ... |
Libby Holbrook
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Pip Carter | ... |
Anthony Forbes-Watson
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Jackie Clune | ... |
Heather Rogers
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| Will Attenborough | ... |
Thomas Skelton Robinson
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| Maximilian Befort | ... |
Nik Wachsman
(as Max Befort)
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Based on the acclaimed book "History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier," DENIAL recounts Deborah E. Lipstadt's (Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz) legal battle for historical truth against David Irving (Cannes Award winner Timothy Spall), who accused her of libel when she declared him a Holocaust denier. In the English legal system in Defamation, the burden of proof is on the accused, therefore it was up to Lipstadt and her legal team to prove the essential truth that the Holocaust occurred. Also starring two-time Academy Award nominee Tom Wilkinson, the film is directed by Emmy Award winner Mick Jackson ("Temple Grandin") and adapted for the screen by BAFTA and Academy Award nominated writer David Hare (THE READER). Producers are Gary Foster and Russ Krasnoff. Written by Bleecker Street
A difficult review.
99% of the time a film is "about" entertainment. No matter how horrible the topic, how wretched the narrative, the argument has always been that, if viewers wanted reality, they would watch a documentary.
So this production would have seen major headwinds going in, and, when you consider the historical record, the topic, and the potential for emotional bias by both those who made the film and whose who see the film, I think overall they have done an admirable job.
The script is tight, so tight you can almost sense the constant rewrites required to make it that way.
The performances are stellar. Rachel Weisz, an actress of remarkable range with a much wider body of work than most realize, takes a lower key than she usually does because the story requires it. One applauds her restraint.
Fortunately Tom Wilkinson and Timothy Spall (the latter literally played a rat in a Harry Potter film) had no such constraints. Both are brilliant but Wilkinson, one of those many top-tier British actors we take for granted, arguably gives the performance of his life, a performance that could hold its own with any actor in any courtroom drama in the history of British cinema.
To the credit of the writers, although it seemed an impossible feat given that the story was based on known, historical fact, at the 1:35 timestamp they successfully managed to inject suspense into the story by playing on a tricky legal concept known as belief vs. intent. And it works.
The film. like the events it records, is more geared to the historical record than light entertainment.
For those looking -- and I apologize for the carefree use of words -- for an "entertaining" story of the Holocaust, perhaps something to show children, I point to the astonishingly brave film intended for teenagers, The Devils Arithmatic 1999. Worth a look.