Denial - a film about proof and vindication. David Irvine, the historian who never said sorry.

Denial-  a film about proof and conclusive evidence, David Irvine the historian who never said sorry.

Denial is both a triumphant, moving and powerful film. It casts the most glaring spotlight on one man, his loathsome ignorance and despicably racist ideologies. It is a film that rightly highlights and underlines one man's total distortion of the self evident truths and his passionate denial of all historical evidence.

At first Denial, starrring once again the supremely accomplished Timothy Spall, as David Irvine the historian who emphatically denied the Holocaust, is a perfect depiction of one man and his violent racism and an American lawyer who makes the wonderfully stirring defence for those who were unforgivably tortured, traumatised and then killed. Denial is a magnificent film in as much that it hits you straight in the stomach and arouses all the right emotions. A court trial at the highest court in the land is almost a fitting setting for outright proof and glorious vindication. Irvine is about to be verbally trampled into the ground. Denial is a masterly production, a film about truth and accuracy rather than dreadful lies.

Rachel Weisz is a gutsy, gritty, feisty and formidable American lawyer who finds herself unwittingly caught up in one of the most intense trials in a court of law. David Irvine, with all the repulsive insistence of a mad historian, holds to his beliefs with an almost manic stubbornness. Timothy Spall, acting out the role of Irvine. is, throughout, suitably slack jawed, opening his mouth only to spill the most vile and disgraceful poison. Should Mr Irvine read my appropriately devastating critique then you may have to accept my scathing opinion of you as just another honest commentary on your hideous take on history. Timothy Spall does admirable justice to the horribly bigoted Irvine.

Denial follows the case of an American lawyer Weisz, an actress of considerable stature, fighting bitterly an apparently losing cause  where, initially, everything and everybody seems to be against her. She stalks the corridors at the Royal Court of Justice like a woman who has quite obviously been scorned. Weisz pleads with the might of the British legal system that justice will be seen to be done. Her memorable voice in the wilderness is, quite clearly a cry from the heart. And her stunningly polished performance made all of the most penetratingly pungent points. We must hope that it, quite literally, sticks in Irvine's craw because this had to be the overwhelming message that we should take from Denial.

Weisz is determined to battle this small minded historian all the way and she doesn't care who gets hurt along the way. She recruits some of the cleverest, most learned lawyers and barristers to act as her shrewd defenders, her rearguard reaction against a most disgusting barrage of anti-semitism. The film races along at a fair pace, probing and then ultimately humiliating Irvine. It is a complete exposure of a man who will never climb down from his rigid and intransigent stance.

Eventually we see the almost embarrassing disintegration of David Irvine and by the end of the film Irvine is reduced to a quivering and silent wreck. Here is a man who has devoted his whole life to peddling savagely vicious propaganda and nastiness. Denial gets to the heart of the matter, under the skin of the most appalling crime against inhumanity of all time. It is no-nonsense, visceral and uncompromising.

There is also a brilliant performance from Tom Wilkinson, an enormously intellectual lawyer who stands tall and proud in the face of  potential disaster. Wilkinson buries himself in weighty legal books, drinking and smoking with increasing fervour and then delivering one of the best speeches you will ever hear in any film. But Wilkinson pulls on the wig and gown before breaking Irvine's resistance with a sadistic relish.

If Denial tells us anything it tells us that even the most cynical and sceptical of minds can eventuallly get the ultimate of come- uppances. Denial is an outstanding film, a film that tells us that justice can be seen to be done and one man has to be exposed as a sham and charlatan. Maybe there are many who believe that the likes of Irvine are completely right and that the Holocaust was just some Hollywood invention, a convincing portrayal of some fictitious war. The fact is though that history may come to see to Irvine as some very unique figure with little in the way of tact.

 Perhaps Auschwitz was some European film set Mr Irvine. But as a grandson of Holocaust survivors I am horrified by your shamefully misguided pronouncements. It ought to be pointed that Irvine is simply a disturbing reminder of what happens when an idiotic historian continually mouths what can only be described  as  the demented rantings of some very angry man.  Maybe Denial has finally consigned Irvine to a very lonely existence on the margins of history. Historians may simply decide to brush him under the carpet.  

Well if Mr Irvine does read this then maybe he'd like to hear the evidence of somebody whose  grandparents  suffered so abominably against the Nazis. You are entitled to your opinions and you are entitled to your sheer  narrow mindedness, a mind that seems to thrive on the worst of all thoughts. But the fact remains that Irvine, as Denial illustrated quite clearly. was simply a lone voice in the dark and and very much in the silent minority. These are the words of a man with a desperately poor grasp of history and all of its most salient facts. There can be no way back for Irvine because Irvine is simply beyond forgiveness.  

I know you will not apologise for your mindset Mr Irvine because I know you never will. But if you have any remnants of remorse and conscience perhaps you might care to hear my personal story. Denial was the film that packed a lethal punch against the forces of racism and wicked propaganda. It is a film that has to be seen because we have to be reminded that sometimes society does throw up its dangerous characters who quite certainly live in the highest of ivory towers.

This is my recommendation. Denial has all the right qualities we always look for in movies. It is the finest of all commentaries on the Holocaust, it sends the coldest shiver down your spine, it touches your soul and it celebrates justice in its most favourable light. The villain of the piece will always be vilified and utterly condemned for ever more. Denial is just a masterpiece. Some films are meant to be remembered and cherished. I'd certainly spend some time in your local cinema. It's superb.