Denial (2016)

Directed by: Mick Jackson | 110 minutes | biography, drama | Actors: Rachel Weisz, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Spall, Andrew Scott, Jack Lowden, Caren Pistorius, Alex Jennings, Harriet Walter, Mark Gatiss, John Sessions, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Pip Carter, Jackie Clune, Will Attenborough, Max Befort, Daniel Cerqueira, Laurel Lefkow, Elliot Levey, Helen Bradbury

Holocaust denial seems just as hopeless as denial of the Roman Empire. Holocaust deniers are therefore usually harmless lunatics, or types who have lost sight of reality due to rabid anti-Semitism. It only gets really creepy when a real scientist starts denying the Holocaust, as British historian David Irving did in the 1990s. He filed a lawsuit against American historian Deborah Lipstadt for defamation in one of her books. The central question was: does Holocaust denial still fall within the scope of freedom of expression?

The British feature film ‘Denial’ by director Mick Jackson is about that lawsuit. We see how it begins, when Irving disrupts a lecture by Lipstadt. We follow the preparations of ‘team Lipstadt’ in London and Auschwitz. We sympathize with Deborah when she is banned from speaking by her team and when she learns that summoning Auschwitz survivors is not a good plan. We are following the pleadings and anxiously awaiting the judge’s verdict.

‘Denial’ is substantively as nuanced as is possible with such a subject. Although the sympathy clearly lies with Lipstadt & co, things are not so black and white. More general themes play the main role. How far does freedom of expression go? How do you objectify history, a science in which stories, emotions and perception are inevitable?

Unfortunately, the main characters lack the nuance that the story does have. While Irving and Lipstadt are equally (un)attractive in real life, the film is a battle between an angel (Rachel Weisz) and a nasty goblin (Timothy Spall). The differences between the two (a shiny, empathetic look against the laugh of a madman) are magnified in the film to such an extent that it is no longer believable. So that you secretly sometimes side with that vomited goblin.

‘Denial’ hit Dutch cinemas just in time, just after President Trump’s team coined the term alternative facts. It is films like ‘Denial’ that expose the absurdity and danger of such a term. It is films like ‘Denial’ that show how the justice system can or cannot serve as a keeper of the truth.