Very few movies can rightfully be called important, but Denial is -- undeniably -- one such film. Rachel Weisz, in a fiercely powerful performance, stars as American historian Deborah Lipstadt, who is sued by author and Holocaust denier David Irving (a perfectly nasty Timothy Spall) for libel. The movie begins in 1994 with Irving popping up, unannounced, at one of Lipstadt's guest lectures at DeKalb College in Atlanta, where she is addressing the subject of Holocaust denial. He challenges the Emory University professor to prove that gas chambers actually existed in concentration camps -- in essence, to prove whether the Holocaust happened at all. He then waves 1,000 dollars in cash over his head and says he'll give it to anyone who can prove that Hitler ordered the killing of the Jews. Lipstadt refuses to debate him and has a security guard escort him out of the auditorium. She thinks no more of the grandstanding incident until, two years later, Irving sues her and her U.K. publisher Penguin Books. He claims that her text, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory, defamed him and has ruined his career. Making things worse, Irving files his suit in British court, where the burden of proof is on the defendant, not the claimant. Thus, Lipstadt must prove that the Holocaust actually took place and that Irving deliberately misrepresented the historical evidence in his revisionist writings for his own gain. Proving the Holocaust occurred is a slam-dunk case, right? One would think so, but the Nazis were careful to cover up their crimes: They destroyed all of their gas chambers, and never allowed any photographs to be taken inside of them. Even more frustrating for Lipstadt is that her attorneys, led by barrister Richard Rampton (the always reliable Tom Wilkinson) and solicitor Anthony Julius (Andrew Scott), refuse to let any Holocaust survivors testify. They fear that Irving, who is acting as his own counsel, will tear into them and humiliate them on the stand. They also won't allow Lipstadt to testify, as they want to keep the focus on Irving and not her. It's the price the fast-talking, quick-tempered Queens native must pay if she wants to win, they tell her. Lipstadt and Rampton visit the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland during the year they spend preparing for the case, and the scenes there (which were shot on location) are easily the most powerful part of the film. It's impossible not to feel moved as Lipstadt and Rampton stand atop the ruins of a collapsed gas chamber where more than a million lives were extinguished. Director Mick Jackson (Temple Grandin), working from a lean, incisive script by noted playwright David Hare, creates great tension as his film bounces in and out of the courtroom over the course of the eight-week trial. Although the outcome is never in doubt, Jackson is able to forge a high level of suspense as Lipstadt's lawyers seek to hone in on Irving's more egregious errors and prove that he willfully altered the facts in his so-called history books. But none of this would be as riveting without Weisz's knockout portrayal. She passionately inhabits Lipstadt and brings to fiery life her relentless determination to give voice to the millions who were slaughtered by the Third Reich, as well as those who survived the horror. Denial's only fault is that it never explores Lipstadt's life outside of the case; we never learn anything about her background or how she became such a ferocious investigator of the Holocaust. But that's a minor quibble. At a time when presidential candidates outright lie and falsify claims, Denial is a compelling testament that the truth should always carry the day and must never be silenced.
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