Director / Mick Jackson (THE BODYGUARD, VOLCANO)
Stars/ Rachel Weisz, Timothy Spall, Tom Wilkinson and Andrew Scott

The first theatrically released film (in the US) since 2002 to be directed by Mick Jackson, who has been concentrating more heavily on episodes of TV Series and a couple of TV Movies, is DENIAL. Adapted from the acclaimed book “History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier” by Deborah E. Lipstadt, this Outstanding British Film of the Year BAFTA Nominee is a dramatisation of the Irving v Penguin Books Ltd case.

Written for the screen by two-time Oscar nominee David Hare (THE READER and THE HOURS), this case was first filed in 1996 and did not go to trial until early 2000. Deborah E. Lipstadt (Weisz) is sued for libel by self-proclaimed historian and renowned denier David Irving (Spall), after referring to him as a Holocaust denier in a book she wrote and published. Deborah, an acclaimed writer and historian who is employed as a Holocaust scholar, must work with a legal team to collect evidence and prove in a court of law that the Holocaust really did occur.

As far as biographical dramas are concerned, you can file DENIAL as a competently handled film that tells its true story genuinely. As a means to testify for its authenticity, all of the dialogue in the courtroom scenes is taken verbatim from the real-life trial records. These scenes are guaranteed to fulfil the appetite of viewers who value credible and significant legally sourced drama. Outside of the court case being detailed, there is less work invested into character background and storylines of a more personal nature. This works just fine for DENIAL, which isn’t without characterisation. A headstrong and passionate Deborah E. Lipstadt clearly being the most defined of them.

While DENIAL doesn’t possess cinematic production qualities and has a narrative that sometimes lacks a natural flow, it does often remain engrossing to watch and is informative viewing. It is quite good in all areas it needs to be and features uniformly solid performances. Definitely worth adding this film to your watch list.

3 ½ stars

Viewer Discretion/ M (occasional coarse language)

Trailer / DENIAL

Moviedoc thanks entertainment One and The Backlot Studios for the invite to this film screening.

Review by Moviedoc / “LIKE” on Facebook – Moviedoc

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