* * * ½

(Based on true story of Holocaust trial)

If you like courtroom dramas, this incredible story, based on a lawsuit brought against an American historian/writer/college professor by Holocaust denier David Irving is a movie you don't want to miss.

While the story revolves around the Holocaust, it is more an inside look at the British court system and its sharp differences with the American way of doing things.

Rachel Weisz plays Deborah Lipstadt, an American Jew who has devoted her career to the study, writing and teaching of the Holocaust. Lipstadt is sued for libel by British writer/activist David Irving (Timothy Spall), and the case is heard before an English in a London courtroom.

Problems occur when Lipstadt is advised by her team of lawyers to let them do the talking for her. This outspoken, articulate woman must sit quietly by while they argue the case unemotionally (they're British after all) and follow a different path than she would have taken. Ironically, though she is being sued, she is the one put on the defensive.

While the movie often gets caught up in British "legalese,” it is fascinating to watch the games being played between Lipstadt's lawyers and Irving, who is his own lawyer.

"Denial" is primarily a courtroom drama, but the horrors of the Holocaust are always there in the background, including a dark and dreary trip by the team to the site.

The acting is superb. Timothy Spall is completely arrogant and unlikable as Irving. Weisz is sympathetic and very likable as Lipstadt. And then there is that wonderful British actor, Tom Wilkinson, who comes through as the true hero of the story, playing the lead lawyer for Lipstadt.

Rated PG-13 with some profanity.