An American professor is charged with libel after identifying a British historian who claims the Holocaust didn't happen. In an intense legal battle that follows, she must prove the Holocaust was real.
What sounds like the plot of a Hollywood courtroom drama is also the explosive true story behind the new film Denial, starring Rachel Weisz and Timothy Spall.
In 1996, scholar Deborah E. Lipstadt was forced to defend the Holocaust as a historical fact in British court when Second World War historian David Irving accused her of libel, after she named him as a Holocaust denier in one of her books.
"There is something surreal about" defending the Holocaust as a historical fact, Lipstadt told CBC News in September, during the film's debut at the Toronto International Film Festival.
"But I'm glad I stood up to it."
Denial: Putting the Holocaust on trial1:34
The new film, out this weekend, is based on Lipstadt's 2005 book Denial: Holocaust History on Trial, her account of the legal battle that arose after she included Irving among a growing movement of revisionist historians.
He sued for libel in Britain, where the onus is on the defendant to prove his or her case, and the trial made headlines around the world.
Timothy Spall portrays British revisionist historian David Irving in Denial. (Laurie Sparham/ Bleecker Street)
"There's a lot of hatred in the world. There's a lot of prejudice and anti-Semitism and a slew of others-isms that have to be challenged. You can't just say, 'Oh yeah, they exist, but there's nothing you can do about it,'" Lipstadt said.
When she won the case, it was a momentous victory for Lipstadt personally as well as for Holocaust survivors — whom she insisted be represented respectfully in the film.
'All hateful acts start with words and then they grow from there.' - Deborah Lipstadt
In their retelling of the taut tale, for instance, the filmmakers drew from the real-life trial transcripts for all of Denial's courtroom dialogue.
Though two decades have passed since the trial, the film remains relevant, Lipstadt said.
"All hateful acts start with words and then they grow from there," she said.
"I think not just the malevolence, but pride in having those views is growing today. And I never would've dreamt it when we started making this film."
Denial, starring Rachel Weisz, tackles true-life court battle of the Holocaust on trial
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