Around the turn of the Milleniaum the holocaust denying English historian David Irving (Timothy Spall) sued the American academic Deborah Lipstadt (Rachel Weisz) for liable in a British court: she had labeled him a holocaust denier in her book about holocaust denialism. In England your not presumed innocent, you have to prove that you are, unlike in America where the reverse holds true. 'Denial' is the story of the trial and events leading up to it.
It's a fascinating story, the holocaust on trail. Tom Wilkinson plays Richard Rampton, Lipstadt's barrister, he dominates every seen he's in. Irving was his own council in court so you really got to see the two face off, this movie is really built around the satisfaction of seeing Rampton best Irving in court. The need for satisfaction is a major theme; Irving wants to be seen as a legitimate historian, which he had been prior to embracing holocaust denial: Lipstadt wants satisfaction as well, but must learn to trust her legal team who want to keep both her and holocaust victims off the stand, putting off a sense of moral satisfaction to better reach a legal one in the end.
There is a TV movie vibe here, it plays like an HBO telefilm. You kind of want it to seem grander, but this a court room story and that is where much of it plays out. The cast is solid, Weisz's Queens accent borders on parody but mostly keeps to the right side of the line, apparently that's how Lipstadt really sounds. ***
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