This film is based on the trial between British Holocaust denier John Irving and American Historian Deborah Lipstadt which was initially about diffamation resulted into a symbolic fight against racists and Neo-Nazis supporters. The arguments presented by Irving (impeccably portrayed by Timothy Spall) are still very frightening for a modern society traumatized by the cruelty of Mankind in World War II. Lipstadt is the symbol of that society, which Rachel Weisz enacts very well, that does not forget and cannot tolerate people who denied the horror of the past. Faced against a racist and antisemite character, she finds herself in the arena with British lawyers (with Tom Wilkinson at the head) to shut out Holocaust deniers.
There are emotional sequences, such as one taking place in Auschwitz, which bring the soul of the people who suffered at that time. Those scenes are the heart and soul of the film which opposes to the trial scenes, quite dull most of them. The film does not seek to explore these real differences and why this Holocaust denier keeps being one. As a geeky person, I have wondered why those differences exist despite massive evidence of the Nazi horrors? Shame the film did not go through that and instead went into a good/evil dynamic to reach Hollywood standards.
It is still an interesting film and quite a strong topic to think about. This film talks about Holocaust deniers which is one of the greatest taboos today and it decided to portray this battle in a trial that occurred in the mid-1990s. Solid but not excellent.
No comments:
Post a Comment