“This case is happening to you, but it’s not about you.”

All opinions are not equal. That’s the message behind ‘Denial’ and considering that the denial in question is that of the existence of the Holocaust, it’s one we easily agree with. But will the judge overseeing the court case that sees American historian Deborah Lipstadt (Weisz) being sued for defamation by English Holocaust denier David Irving (Spall)?

Considering the name David Irving is nowadays little known or spoken off does somewhat give away the ending. However, that’s not really the point. What is the point is the fact that such people believe such things to be true, the strange workings of the UK law system or how a defence team can argue a case that should be so obvious in it’s unquestionablity. Finding out post-watching that the dialogue during the court scenes was taken verbatim from court transcripts certainly added to the impact of the film. The excellent cast do an excellent job in creating their characters. However, there’s an underlying sense that this would have made an equally excellent tv drama. Why did it have to be a feature film?

It could have been more gripping, more of an examination of why Irving believed such things as opposed to keeping him as a distant and thoroughly unpleasant figure. However it is refreshing to see a focused and clear-headed examination of truth which, in our current political climate, is all too-needed.

‘Denial’ opened in UK cinemas on 27th Jan.

        Year: 2017         Run time:109 minutes       Dir:  Mick Jackson

Starring: Rachel Weisz, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Spall, Andrew Scott, Mark Gatiss,