Denial (film)

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Movie
German title denial
Original title Denial
Country of production United States ,
United Kingdom
original language English
Publishing year 2016
length 111 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Mick Jackson
script David Hare
production Gary Foster ,
Russ Krasnoff
music Howard Shore
camera Haris Zambarloukos
cut Justine Wright
occupation

Denial (Original Title: Denial ) is an on true events BASED US-American - British film drama by Mick Jackson from the year 2016 . Rachel Weisz , Tom Wilkinson and Timothy Spall star in the lead roles . The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2016, in German cinemas on April 13, 2017.

action

Deborah Lipstadt is a professor of Holocaust Studies and is being challenged by David Irving , a self-proclaimed historian on Nazism and Third Reich and Holocaust denier . He is bringing a defamation suit in the UK against her and her publisher, who refer to him as a Holocaust denier in their books. In the UK, the burden of proof in a defamation case rests with the defendant. Hence, Lipstadt and the law firm of Anthony Julius and Barrister Richard Rampton must prove that Irving's accounts of the Holocaust are wrong.

To prepare for their defense, Rampton and Lipstadt visit the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland together with the architectural historian Robert Jan van Pelt , while a team of researchers studies Irving's extensive personal diaries. Lipstadt is upset and frustrated by Rampton's apparently disrespectful questions on the subject. The defense team then reduced their involvement in the case, arguing that the defense's chances of success would be greater if Lipstadt did not testify in court. The British Jewish community even advises her to make a comparison in order to reduce public awareness of Irving. However, her team got off to a promising start when it led Irving to approve a single judge instead of a jury.

Irving runs his own legal representation, which is faced with Lipstadt's well-funded defense team. In his reasoning, Irving tries to distort the evidence presented by the defense. Lipstadt is asked by a Holocaust survivor to testify, but Lipstadt's team insists on focusing the process solely on Irving.

Irving tries to discredit evidence of gas chambers at Auschwitz, claiming that there were no holes on the roof for the Zyklon B gas crystals. Lipstadt furiously demands that she and the Holocaust survivor testify. Julius fears, however, that Irving would humiliate them and perform them in public, as he has done in the past. Rampton visits Lipstadt at her London hotel to explain his plan and earns her trust. In court, he skilfully cross- examines Irving and presents his conclusions as absurd. The testimony of an expert reveals the distortions in Irving's writings.

As the trial closes, the judge worries the defense by remarking that if Irving honestly believes in his own theses, he is not a liar as von Lipstadt claims. After an excruciating wait for the verdict, the defense wins the trial. The court is convinced, based on the evidence presented, that Irving is a fraudulent Holocaust denier. Lipstadt is celebrated for her stance, while her lawyers remind her that despite her silence during the trial, her writing, countering Irving's lies with facts, is the basis for that victory.

However, after the trial, Irving said in a television interview that the trial was actually in his favor and that he would continue to question the Holocaust.

Reviews

"Captivating reconstruction of a process from the year 2000 - and still brand new."

- Cinema.de

“The film would have served the film far more with sobriety - the question of why there is no forensic evidence is shocking enough. Nonetheless, in the “post-truth” age, when “fake news” and “alternative facts” are spread, denial makes a very important point: there are facts in this world that cannot be interpreted. There are historical truths that are not subject to opinions or feelings. "

- kino-zeit.de

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for denial . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF). Template: FSK / maintenance / type not set and Par. 1 longer than 4 characters
  2. ↑ Kino II: “Fake News” in court Der Spiegel , April 8, 2017
  3. ↑ Denial (2017) editorial review
  4. ^ Denial of film review by Sonja Hartl