The crucial scene is where Irving is shown to have mistranslated an entry in a log of Himmler's. And that it wasn't an honest mistake on Irving's part but a deliberate twisting of the facts to suit his thesis.
Irving is fixated on documents; he thinks the lack of any document showing that Hitler ordered the Holocaust proves it never happened. He ignores the cogency of other forms of evidence. Irving also states somewhere that estimates of the number of Auschwitz victims have been reduced over the years; this is true but does not justify Irving's conclusion that the whole thing is a hoax. The film could have tried harder to show Irving's side of the argument and why some readers are beguiled by him. But I suppose the film is saying it is not an argument; there aren't two sides to the Holocaust.
Irving is portrayed as the irredeemable baddie, full of antisemitic, racist and sexist attitudes. But when Deborah caricatures the judge as "this unbelievable character from Masterpiece Theatre" it is of course not to be regarded in the same way as Irving's ditty about Rastafarians. If we are all supposed to be equal, why are we appalled at the latter but not the former?
Irving is fixated on documents; he thinks the lack of any document showing that Hitler ordered the Holocaust proves it never happened. He ignores the cogency of other forms of evidence. Irving also states somewhere that estimates of the number of Auschwitz victims have been reduced over the years; this is true but does not justify Irving's conclusion that the whole thing is a hoax. The film could have tried harder to show Irving's side of the argument and why some readers are beguiled by him. But I suppose the film is saying it is not an argument; there aren't two sides to the Holocaust.
Irving is portrayed as the irredeemable baddie, full of antisemitic, racist and sexist attitudes. But when Deborah caricatures the judge as "this unbelievable character from Masterpiece Theatre" it is of course not to be regarded in the same way as Irving's ditty about Rastafarians. If we are all supposed to be equal, why are we appalled at the latter but not the former?