SPEC D: Mick Jackson. U.S./UK. 110 min. Sep 11, 7 pm, Princess of Wales Sep 12, 10:30 am, Winter Garden. Rating: NN
In the late 90s, the Holocaust went on trial in a bizarre libel suit. Author and Hitler sympathizer David Irving sued historian Deborah Lipstadt, who called him a Holocaust denier for repeatedly claiming that the catastrophic event didn’t happen. Lipstadt’s legal team had to go to court to prove that it did in fact happen.
That publicity stunt of a trial gets another spotlight in this manicured courtroom drama that feels eager to court awards season.
Rachel Weisz awkwardly tries on a Queens accent to play Lipstadt, whose main function is to keep quiet during the trial and then offer catchy sound bites in the wings to explain its significance. She’s flanked by Tom Wilkinson as a defence attorney who is all kinds of terrific at dropping the mic, and Timothy Spall, playing up his slimy affectations as Irving.
The movie is rousing and righteous in all the predictable ways, a safe-bet crowd pleaser.
But the film rarely feels intimate its characters often turn casual moments outside the theatricality of the courtroom into an opportunity for a sermon or an anecdote. There’s an artificiality to all this that doesn’t sit right in a story about nailing down the truth.
The only genuine emotion Denial has to offer is during a silent, observational moment at Auschwitz, when you’re reminded that victory in this particular story is simply acknowledging the piled up shoes and spectacles behind a glass wall.
