#history on trial by day in court with a holocaust denier

[mariacallous]

what show is the one with the “do to the holocaust deniers what you did to the monarchy” quote from I must watch it immediately

Denial, the 2016 movie starring Rachel Weisz about the libel trial involving Deborah Lipstadt, the Holocaust and Jewish Studies professor and expert, and David Irving, the self-educated self-proclaimed Hitler historian who was suing because she called him a Holocaust denier because that is what he is.

The book the movie is based on, History on Trial: My Day in Court with David Irving (also published as Denial: Holocaust History on Trial) by Lipstadt is also worth reading.

[c-m-li]

Underrated WWII Movies:

(All of these are based on true stories, but I only added links to the books that I’ve actually read.)

Sophie Scholl: the Final Days (2005)

Tells the story of The White Rose Society which was a secret anti-war resistance organization made up of students and professors at Munich University in Nazi Germany. Kind of a legal drama, the movie takes place when several of the members of The White Rose are arrested for distributing anti-war leaflets at the university and ends a few days after their trial. The movie is entirely in German.

Here’s the trailer.

Sophie Scholl and the White Rose by Annette Dumbach and Jud Newborn is the written counterpart with more background details.

Anthropoid (2016)

Follows the Czech resistance in occupied Czechoslovakia and the mission to assassinate Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich. The movie version of the real-life scenario when anything that can go wrong goes wrong.

Here’s the trailer.

The Zookeeper’s Wife (2017)

The story of how a family who owned the most successful zoo in the world used it to help hide Jews during the Holocaust. The movie starts just before the invasion of Poland and goes all the way through the entire occupation of Poland and both Uprisings to end after the war.

Here’s the trailer.

Based on the book, The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman who used Antonina’s the wife’s wartime diaries as the main source.

Dunkirk (2017)

About the Disaster at Dunkirk and the fight to evacuate Allied troops. Follows three POV’s between the men trapped at the beachhead, those manning the boats that are sailing to Dunkirk from England to help, and the pilots who were trying to keep the German air raids from bombarding those at Dunkirk. A lot of no-name soldiers, but it follows the very big picture, the scope is very much more zoomed out. The movie takes place over the course of a few days.

Here’s the trailer.

Midway (2019)

Focuses on the naval and aerial battles in the Pacific theater. Though it’s titled Midway, the movie starts at the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 and goes all the way to the battle of Midway which didn’t actually happen until 1942. It focuses on a specific group of pilots and naval personnel. It also follows the intelligence gathering for the naval operations as well as a few POV scenes for the Japanese naval forces.

Here’s the trailer.

And a couple honorable mentions:

Band of Brothers (2001)

A mini-series that follows Easy Company of the American Army. It focuses on the men of the company and their commanding officers starting from jump training to the end of the war.

Here’s the trailer.

It was inspired by the book of the same name, Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest by Stephen E. Ambrose.

Denial (2016)

Not really taking place in WWII, but a must-watch of Holocaust history. A legal drama about the true story of how historian Deborah Lipstadt was sued for libel when she called a Holocaust denier a liar and she had to defend herself and prove that the Holocaust happened in a court of law. The movie takes place over the course of the trial and follows both Lipstadt and her attorney as they research proving the Holocaust.

Here’s the trailer.

It’s based on the biographical book, History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier by Deborah Lipstadt.

[schraubd]

The Strongest Point

A UK court has upheld the incitement conviction of Alison Chabloz, a singer-songwriter with a propensity for Holocaust denial. I don't want to get into the free speech concerns here -- the UK has different free speech rules than we have in the states, their merits or demerits are a matter for another time. Certainly, there's no question that Chabloz is a raging antisemite. Highlights of her lyrics include:

"Did the Holocaust ever happen? Was it just a bunch of lies? Seems that some intend to pull the wool over our eyes. Eternal wandering liars haven’t got a clue, and when it comes to usury, victim’s always me and you."

"Now Auschwitz, holy temple, is a theme park just for fools, the gassing zone a proven hoax, indoctrination rules."

"Tell us another, come on, my brother, reap it, the cover, for tribal gain. Safe in our tower, now is the hour, money and power, we have no shame."

"History repeats itself, no limit to our wealth, thanks to your debts we’re bleeding you dry. We control your media, control all your books and TV, with the daily lies we’re feeding, suffering victimisation. Sheeple have no realisation, you shall pay, all the way, until the break of day."

For added effect, she set the songs to the music of traditional Jewish folk music like Hava Negila (a tune she claimed she had made up herself).

But for whatever reason, I cannot stop cracking up at this highlight from the trial:

At one point, [Chabloz's attorney] suggested that the Nazis did not deliberately murder Anne Frank, declaring “She died of typhus, there is no dispute. They didn’t deliberately murder her. They might be responsible for her death by mistreatment.” Judge Hehir stopped the debate, telling Mr Davies: “I’m not sure that’s your strongest point Mr Davies.”

Indeed, I imagine not. Or maybe so, if you're hanging out in the right parts of the British internet. But -- just lawyer to lawyer -- if you're defending a Holocaust denier against the charge that they've engaged in hateful antisemitic speech, maybe just pivot away from the "did the Nazis really murder Anne Frank" debate. via The Debate Link http://bit.ly/2UYHA3y

[uomo-accattivante]

Interesting Operation Finale article that references Chris Weitz’s dad who was a real life U.S. secret agent and wrote about prominent Nazis.

Hollywood is still fighting the Nazis, or in the case of the new film “Operation Finale,” bringing them to on-screen justice.

Opening Labor Day weekend, the movie stars Oscar Isaac as Peter Malkin, the real-life Israeli intelligence agent whose undercover team seized Adolf Eichmann in Argentina in 1960 and smuggled the Holocaust overseer (played by Ben Kingsley ) out of the country to stand trial in Israel.

Eichmann was hanged in Israel in 1962. In a modern-day echo of his story, the last known Nazi collaborator living in the U.S. was deported earlier this month.

Nazis in uniform have served as some of cinema’s most constant villains. In the subgenre of movies about Nazi hunters and Holocaust revenge-seekers, fugitive henchmen of Hitler represent monsters in hiding, having melted into society as the world moved on.

In “Marathon Man” from 1976, Laurence Olivier portrayed a sadistic war criminal hoarding diamonds taken from Auschwitz. “The Boys from Brazil,” a sci-fi movie released in 1978, imagined Josef Mengele nurturing a flock of Hitler clones in Paraguay. In a 1989 adaptation of Simon Wiesenthal’s memoir “The Murderers Among Us,” Mr. Kingsley starred as the concentration-camp survivor and Nazi tracker who played a role in finding Eichmann.

Chris Weitz, the director of “Operation Finale,” says such thrillers offer the potential for an effective Hollywood hybrid: “a genre machine into which you can smuggle all kinds of meaning and inquiry.”

Shot with a script by first-time screenwriter Matthew Orton, “Operation Finale” sets up the suspense with a tip from a young woman in Buenos Aires being courted by Eichmann’s son, who doesn’t realize she’s Jewish. From there, a Mossad strike team assembles to kidnap Eichmann, who is living with his family and working in a factory under an assumed name.

For cinematic purposes, “Operation Finale” filmmakers condensed and heightened aspects of the episode’s true history, such as speeding up the chronology of the Israeli plot. But Mr. Weitz says the film is exacting in other details, such as portraying Eichmann’s trial in Israel.

“If you get things wrong, it can be as bad as providing fodder for Holocaust deniers,” he says.

The movie also explores the motivations of the Mossad operatives. Holed up in a Argentine safe house after they capture Eichmann, they struggle with their role in his fate.

Is it better to kill the war criminal themselves, keeping him in obscurity? Or bring him to public trial as an opportunity for national catharsis and a global message? As a Mossad team leader played by Lior Raz says, “We will judge our executioner and warn off any others that wish to follow his example.”

As a filmmaker who, with his older brother and fellow director Paul, helped bring the world the 1999 teen sex comedy “American Pie,” Mr. Weitz might seem an unlikely leader for “Operation Finale.” But the director, whose other films include the 2002 Hugh Grant comedy “About a Boy,” a 2009 “Twilight” sequel and the 2011 immigrant tale “A Better Life,” has a familiarity for Nazi Germany and its fallout.

His father, John Weitz, was the son of a former Prussian soldier and grew up in Berlin in a privileged Jewish family, which left Germany in 1933 when Hitler came to power. John eventually emigrated to the U.S., joined the Army and was recruited into the Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency. His World War II duties, Chris says, included searching for high-value prisoners in the liberated Dachau concentration camp, and going undercover to disrupt a German resistance cell.

Decades later, after becoming a fixture in New York society and building a successful fashion business, John Weitz also wrote two biographies: “Hitler’s Banker,” about former finance minister Hjalmar Schach t, and “Hitler’s Diplomat,” about former foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop.

As a teenager, Chris worked for his father as a research assistant and proofreader. He recalls trips to the New York Public Library, making photocopies of entire memoirs by German diplomats, as well as correspondence his father kept with von Ribbentrop’s personal secretary.

John Weitz died in 2002 at age 79. Looking back, his son Chris, 48, believes that his father, who didn’t sleep well and exhibited an “edge of danger,” was coping with the aftereffects of war. Instead of therapy, he wrote the Nazi histories as a way of “working out his thoughts and feelings through this academic exercise and immersion in the period,” the younger Mr. Weitz says.

In one scene, he added a historical fragment that he remembered from his father’s research: a joke about the irony that the looks of Hitler and some of his top lieutenants didn’t live up to their Aryan ideals.

“To be the perfect Nazi,” Mr. Kingsley’s character tells his Jewish captors, “you have to be as blond as Hitler, tall as Goebbels and as slim as Göring.”

###

[gryphoneditions]

The Irving Judgment

In 1993 The Free Press published a book by the American scholar Deborah E. Lipstadt entitled Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory. The following year Penguin Books published a paperback edition of the book in the United Kingdom. Holocaust denier David Irving complained to Penguin in 1995 about references to him in the book, and in 1996 Irving issued a writ claiming damages for libel, naming Penguin, Professor Lipstadt, and four booksellers as defendants. Given the complexities of the case, it was agreed that it should be tried by a judge alone. Mr. Justice Gray of the High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division, was assigned. The trial opened in London on January 11, 2000, with closing speeches heard on March 15. Mr. Justice Gray delivered the verdict on April 11 in favor of the publisher and the professor: “there must be judgment for the Defendants.” These words concluded a nearly 350-page document of which the Times of London wrote: “History has had its day in court, and scored a crushing victory against Mr. Irving’s ideologically motivated abuse of the intellectual discipline of which he is a master. The case has indeed been a victory for free speech, and truth as well.”

To Purchase a Copy of this book visit our website!

https://gryphoneditions.com/index.php/special-sales/the-irving-judgment-detail

[tamas-22-blog]

Denial (Mick Jackson, 2016)

Acclaimed historian Deborah E. Lipstadt must battle for historical truth and established facts in order to prove that the Holocaust happened, after one of the most notorious Holocaust deniers - David Irving – sues her for libel.

Arguably one of the most important yet underrated and overlooked British film to have been released in the past decade. This film captures with great vigour the Irving v Penguin Books Ltd case which was labeled as the one which put history, commonplace truths and facts on trial. Since English libel law places the onus to prove the allegation untrue on the defendant rather than the plaintiff (a complete reverse from U.S. law) Professor Lipstadt was compelled to fight Irving in court at a great personal cost in order to protect, preserve and reaffirm history.

The film was adapted from Professor Lipstadt’s 2005 memoir regarding the case – History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier – by playwright David Hare, who previously adapted The Reader (Stephen Daldry, 2008) which shares the theme of the Holocaust with this film. This excellent and experienced writer in the subject was first approached by the BBC in 2010 to adapt Professor Lipstadt’s memoir into a film. After initial hesitation, he agreed to adapt the memoir as: “…although the Holocaust was its governing subject, there was no need for it to be visually re-created”. Moreover, he admired Professor Lipstadt’s intelligence, bravery, and panache in defending historical facts: “…it was clear from the start that this film would be a defense of historical truth. It would be arguing that although historians have the right to differently interpret facts, they do not have the right to knowingly misrepresent those facts.”

David Hare admitted to the immense professional undertaking which he embarked on to dramatize a court case which began in September of 1996 and was not decided on until April of 2000. Furthermore, the challenge to accurately portray an already articulate and intelligent woman who did not need to find her voice or confidence to use it. This was in sharp contrast to the traditional approach to storytelling in film whereupon a character who was inarticulate found their voice and how to use it effectively to either solve an issue of great importance or fight against an injustice of some kind. It was also a film which sought to draw a clear line between what is opinion and what is fact, as Professor Lipstadt affirmed: “Some opinions are backed by fact. Others are not. And those which are not backed by fact are worth considerably less than those which are”.

The director of the film Mick Jackson had not been behind the camera for fourteen years and is best known for having helmed The Bodyguard (the 1990 film starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner). Therefore, initially, there was some skepticism in the press with regards to his ability to tackle this subject matter. Rachel Weisz (in top form) plays Professor Lipstadt, in a role which could be described as quite a personal one since her Jewish parents had escaped Nazism in 1938, before the outbreak of the Second World War and found refuge in the United Kingdom. Timothy Spall portrays David Irving in a nuanced and layered performance, in a film which never speculates as to his psychological motives. Interestingly (and unusually), Irving is never attributed a single line of dialogue in the film which he had not spoken publicly according to the screenwriter, David Hare. Moreover, the courtroom scene dialogue and action are taken verbatim from the trial transcripts.

Professor Lipstadt is advised by her legal counsel in the person of, barrister Richard Rampton (Tom Wilkinson) and solicitor Anthony Julius (Andrew Scott) to remain silent during the entire length of the trial in order to prevent David Irving from scrutinizing her knowledge on history and to prevent him from having the opportunity to publicly humiliate her. Her 1993 book Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory serves as her voice and historical document which must prove Irving to be the falsifier of history that he is. Survivors of the Holocaust are also prevented by the legal team from testifying, refusing to permit Irving from causing further pain and trauma for the victims. In an emotional sequence, a Holocaust survivor (played by Harriet Walter) pleads with Professor Lipstadt in the courthouse to allow her to testify in order to speak for those who can no longer speak for themselves. However, the same stance is taken by the legal team as the survivors must be protected. The dilemma and stress of the legal case take its toll on Professor Lipstadt, who for years had to spend time away from her students, research and family as the case dragged on.

She develops a father/daughter type of relationship with her barrister Richard Rampton, who counsels and reassures her in the most difficult periods of the case, which provide a break from the courtroom scenes which permeate the film. The said courtroom scenes, however, are fantastic and exceptionally executed, keeping the audience fully hooked as factual evidence is presented with Irving attempting to contradict the veracity of everything pathetically. Professor Lipstadt eventually (spoiler alert) wins her case which ultimately serves as not only the academic and public destruction of Irving but many other Holocaust deniers and falsifiers of history.

The film is of great importance as it reminds us all of the growing assault on truth and facts in what seems to be a post-truth era which we have entered, most notoriously perhaps in the form of the Trump Administration. As David Hare excellently puts it: “We are entering, in politics especially, a post-factual era in which it is apparently permissible for public figures to assert things without evidence, and then to justify their assertions by adding “Well, that’s my opinion”, as though that in itself is some kind of justification. It isn’t. And such charlatans need to learn it isn’t. Contemplating the Lipstadt/ Irving trial may help them to that end.”

[sfdfmoviereviews]

Upcoming Flicks April 2017

Cinema releases for Australia, April 2017.

April 6

Dance Academy: The Movie

Are you a fan of the Dance Academy television show? Yes? Well, you can now continue the story as this film follows on from the series and tells us where and what the characters are up to now. Genre: Drama Director: Jeffrey Walker Stars: Miranda Otto, Keiynan Lonsdale, Jordan Rodrigues Recommendation: This will only be interesting to those who have seen the television series. I had never heard of the show prior to this month so I will be skipping it.

CHiPS

Based on the 80’s buddy cop television show, two California Highway Patrol officers investigate some crooked cops. Genre: Action/Comedy Director: Dax Shepard Stars: Michael Peña, Dax Shepard, Jessica McNamee Recommendation: Skip it. Some things in the past should be left there and not resurrected.

  April 13

The Fate and the Furious

Dom is seduced by a mystery woman and forces him to turn against his crew. There is also a lot of car chases and submarines and other modes of transport. Genre: Action Director: F. Gary Gray Stars: Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, Kurt Russell, Scott Eastwood, Charlize Theron and Helen Mirren. Recommendation: If it wasn’t for the cast and the submarine I wouldn’t give this movie two thoughts but I am sure there is some fun to be had here. See it.

Denial

Based upon the book History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier by Deborah Lipstadt, Denial is a courtroom biographical drama where Lipstadt must prove the events of the Holocaust happened against David Irving, a renowned denier. Genre: Biographical/Drama Director: Mick Jackson Stars: Rachel Weisz, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Spall Recommendation: See it. The story looks intriguing and its cast is solid.

Colossal

A Kaiju attacks South Korea and an American woman, going through some life problems discovers she is connected to the creature and controlling its actions. Genre: Comedy/Sci-Fi Director: Nacho Vigalondo Stars: Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis, Dan Stevens Recommendation: See it. This looks hilarious.

  April 20

Going in Style

Three elderly gentlemen who have been victims of the ever profitable but never giving bank set out to rob the banks that have taken their pension. Genre: Comedy Director: Zach Braff Stars: Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Alan Arkin Recommendation: See it. I recently watched a Brit version of this called Golden Years starring Bernard Hill. Hopefully, the Americans can do it just as good.

Raw

A lifelong vegetarian starts veterinary school and goes through a hazing ritual that forces her to eat meat, which starts an uncontrollable taste for meat. Genre: Horror Director: Julia Ducournau Stars: Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf, Rabah Nait Oufella Recommendation: See it. It has been getting great buzz but make sure you have a hard stomach.

Their Finest

Based on the 2009 novel Their Finest Hour and a Half by Lissa Evans, the British Ministry turns to making propaganda videos to boost morale during World War II. Catrin Cole is hired as a scriptwriter to add a woman’s touch. Genre: Romantic/Comedy Director: Lone Scherfig Stars: Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin, Bill Nighy, Jack Huston, Jeremy Irons Recommendation: This looks very good. See it.

   April 22

My Pet Dinosaur

My Pet Dinosaur is an Australian family film about a boy accidentally who makes a new friend and plunges a town into chaos. Genre: Family Director: Matt Drummond Stars: David Roberts, Joanne Samuel, Sam Winspear-Schillings Recommendation: It looks like a cheaper version of E.T. but with a weird dinosaur looking thing. 50/50.

  April 25

Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2

Starlord and the Guardians must defend the galaxy again and deal with Quill’s father. Genre: Adventure/Sci-fi Director: James Gunn Stars: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki, Chris Sullivan, Sean Gunn, Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell. Recommendation: Must See! 2017’s first MCU film and the long-awaited sequel to the unexpected smash Guardians of the Galaxy will bring back my favourite hero along with some new characters. I cannot wait.

 April 27

Free Fire

When things go awry at an arms deal, a shootout occurs in the warehouse between the two rival gangs. Genre: Action/Comedy Director: Ben Wheatley Stars: Sharlto Copley, Brie Larson, Armie Hammer Recommendation: See it. It looks very fun.

Table 19

Table 19 is about a group of people who are seated at the back of the wedding, the people they wished RSVP-ed ‘no’. Genre: Comedy/Drama Director: Jeffrey Blitz Stars: Anna Kendrick, Craig Robinson, June Squibb, Lisa Kudrow, Stephen Merchant, Wyatt Russell and Tony Revolori. Recommendation: Table 19 has received mainly negative reviews from critics and the general audience, but the trailer made me want to see more of these characters. 50/50

Gifted

A single man who is raising his niece finds out she is a prodigy child and is drawn into a custody battle with his own mother for the best way to raise the girl. Genre: Drama Director: Marc Webb Stars: Chris Evans, Mckenna Grace, Lindsay Duncan, Jenny Slate and Octavia Spencer. Recommendation: See it. It looks like a fantastic story of heart and conflict of two opposing views with the best intentions in mind.

   My picks for the month are Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2, Colossal and Raw. Tell me what you are checking out this month on Facebook, Tumblr & Twitter

-Terry

[kelseyridge13]

antisemitism itself cannot be “defeated.” It will wither away, or not—probably the latter—of its own accord. Since antisemitism and, for that matter, all forms of prejudice are impervious to reason, they cannot be disproved. Therefore, in every generation they must be fought.

Deborah Lipstadt (History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier)

[ciegeinc]

Movie Review...Denial

(3.5/5) How do you prove the truth?  Subjectivity and false information, that run rampant now-a-days makes that question’s answer even more harder to define.  It’s a scary time to live in, when facts are under investigation, where facts are being questioned.  To even think that the holocaust didn’t happen and to think that there are actually people who believe this is mind-boggling.  Superficially that is what the film, based on a true story, DENIAL, is depicting. Great performances by the entire cast especially the leads, Rachel Weisz and Tom Wilkinson.  I couldn’t help but feel sorry for and be captivated by the antagonist of the film, played by actor Timothy Spall.  He played “historian” David Irving who believes that the holocaust didn’t happen and believes it is a conspiracy by the Jews.  I wasn’t captivated in a positive sense but more so the portrayal of the real life person by Spall.  I saw mental illness.  I don’t know if that was intentional or just my interpretation.  Some people assert Racism as a mental illness and I am starting to believe so.  People who actively disregard fact and actuality to further personal thoughts and agendas.  Interesting film and story.   When university professor Deborah E. Lipstadt includes World War II historian David Irving in a book about Holocaust deniers, Irving accuses her of libel and sparks a legal battle for historical truth. With the burden of proof placed on the accused, Lipstadt and her legal team fight to prove the essential truth that the Holocaust occurred. Based on the book "History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier. (google.com)"  

[sulpana]

Bastiglia celebra il Giorno della Memoria

Bastiglia celebra il Giorno della Memoria

BASTIGLIA – Nella ricorrenza del Giorno della Memoria, il Comune di Bastiglia insieme all’Istituto Storico di Modena propone il film “La verità negata” del regista Mick Jackson, tratto dal libro “History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier” di Deborah Lipstadt.

La proiezione, ad ingresso gratuito, avrà luogo mercoledì 29 gennaio alle 20.30 nella sala “I Cento Passi” e vedrà la…

[mariacallous]

Deniers have, over the years, concentrated great energy on attacking the authenticity of The Diary of Anne Frank because they believe that by creating doubts about this popular book, which is often young people's first encounter with the literature of the Holocaust, they can generate broader doubts about the Holocaust itself.

History on Trial: My Day in Court with David Irving by Debroah Lipstadt

[netunleashed-blog]

Best movies on Netflix UK (August 2018): over 100 films to choose from

http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=29963 Best movies on Netflix UK (August 2018): over 100 films to choose from - http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=29963 Each and every week Netflix adds at least a few great movies to its already impressive line-up of flicks. This is great news for film fans, but it also means that many of us spend our first hour of downtime scrolling through everything the service has to offer.[UPDATE: Netflix has added two great crime thrillers to its catalogue this week, including Spy Game, starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt, as well as Infernal Affairs, a cop drama based in Hong Kong that the US movie The Departed is inspired by.]And, as many of us are all too aware, often the dilemma of so much great stuff to choose from (which is known as ‘decision fatigue’ in psychology circles) leaves us feeling fed up. In an attempt to put an end to what we’re coining ‘Netflix fatigue’ once and for all, we’ve created this extensive list to the best movies that Netflix UK has to offer you right now. That's right. No more endless scrolling and no more movie-induced anxiety that you've made the wrong choice.If you’ve been signed up to Netflix for more than a few months, you’ll know there are lots of mediocre movie choices. But if you only have time for the best of the best, don't waste those all too precious minutes searching through the site's extensive and exhausting back catalogue. Instead, delve straight into this guide.We'll be updating this cinematic hall of fame at least once a week, so be sure to keep it bookmarked so you can find out what's hot and ready to be watched on Netflix in the UK right now.  The best movies on Netflix To make life even easier, we’ve divided over 150 movie recommendations up into categories to suit every taste. We’ve got indie and thriller through to kids and documentaries.Be sure to keep checking back. Unlike its TV output, which seems to stay on Netflix for longer, movies on the streaming site tend to appear and disappear quickly. Enjoy!  Want to know more about Netflix's take on binging? Here's what we found out when we visited Netflix HQ: If you are a TV fan, then check out our best shows on Netflix feature.Check out what the rivals are up to with the best movies on Amazon PrimeBest Netflix sci-fi movies: fantastic films to stream on Netflix and Amazon nowBest horror movies: scary films to stream right nowOur weekly guide to upcoming things on Netflix In this thrilling crime drama set in Hong Kong, a policeman goes undercover in order to expose a detective who has been leaking important police business to his contacts in the criminal underworld. The mole doesn't know who it is that's tracking him, so ensues a cat and mouse game guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat. If the plot sounds familiar, that's because Martin Scorcese's The Departed was based on this movie.  Starring Brad Pitt and Robert Redford, this crime thriller is about a veteran spy who takes on a dangerous mission to try and free his protégé who has been taken as a political prisoner in China.  From the writer of Arrival comes another alien invasion picture that has one of the more interesting twists that we have seen in a while. The whole thing plays out as a pretty simple affair. Micheal Pena is a factory worker who is plagued by visions and finds himself at the centre of a looming apocalypse. Some great set pieces manage to lift what is quite a tepid script - stick with it as the end is something else. Arguably one of Tarantino's best movies, The Hateful Eight is a gory Western set some time just after the American Civil War. As you'd expect from a Tarantino flick, the cast is one of the best bits. Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael Maden, Tim Roth and Kurt Russell take the lead roles as a ragtag bunch of criminals, bounty hunters and who knows what else who take refuge in a stagecoach stopover during a blizzard.  When Warcraft first came out it received mixed reviews and in many ways was a financial disappointment. But this action movie, based on the video game of the same name, from Duncan Jones is really compelling for fans of fantasy, monsters and otherworldly evils. Don’t expect flawless performances, but do expect your fair share of magical spells, orcs and sprawling battle scenes. Not every superhero movies takes itself too seriously. Deadpool is the poster child for irreverent superhero fun. Ryan Reynolds plays the lead, a slightly mad, katana-wielding character who blurs the line between hero and villain. It’s the jokes we’re here for, though. And a lot of them packed in.  This South Korean action movie is about Sook-hee, a trained assassin with a thirst for revenge who uncovers secrets about her dark past. Not one for the faint-hearted, Sook-hee leaves a trail of gore, violence and plenty of bodies on her quest. It's been applauded for its action choreography and has been described as Kill Bill meets La Femme Nikita.  Not every Marvel film is about superheroes with otherworldly powers. Guardians of the Galaxy’s lead Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is closer to Han Solo than Superman. He’s a law-breaking rogue, not a saviour of civilisations. The result is a film with more of a sci-fi inflection than other Marvel adaptations. It’s packed with humour too. You don’t have to care about comic book lore to get on-board with this blockbuster.  This star-studded war film features Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Peña, Jon Bernthal and Jason Isaacs, and follows US tank crews in Nazi Germany during the last days of World War II. Based on real experiences by the crews of these machines, Fury is a powerful and moving account, that was very well received by critics and audiences alike. A biographical war drama directed by Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge tells the true story of conscientious objector Desmond T. Doss (Andrew Garfield). Despite refusing to bear arms through his service during WW2, Doss won the Congressional Medal of Honor and adoration and respect of his peers for his bravery and selflessness in the conflict. Ridley Scott’s bombastic tale of US soldiers caught behind enemy lines when their helicopter crashes in Somalia is frenetic and relentless. You’ll have as much fun watching it as spotting the young actors who you kind of know but don’t know - including Hugh Dancy, Ioan Gruffudd and Ewen Bremner. It’s a bit jingoistic and the bloodshed is sometimes over the top but it’s a superb watch. A masterpiece in both filmmaking and fight choreography, Ang Lee's superb Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon tells the tale of a Chinese warrior who steals a sword off of a master swordsman and the cat-and-mouse chase that ensues. Chow Yun-Fat may have been the star of the movie when the was first released, but it is Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi that steal the show. A follow-up was produced by Netflix, which is worth a watch but has none of the charisma of its enigmatic predecessor. Quentin Tarantino’s bloody brilliant kung-fu opus should have been one big movie. But its distributors got cold feet, which meant we actually got two quite different films. The first is pure Shaw Brothers schlock. A revenge tale that follows Uma Thurman’s Bride looking to kill people on her hit list, for murdering her husband and family on her wedding day and leaving her for dead. The second film is a touch more subdued, but no less brutal - starting with a flashback of the infamous wedding and then furthering The Bride’s mission to ‘kill bill’. If you can, watch them together as it’s an epic movie that should be consumed in one sitting. Saoirse Ronan plays a teen assassin, who has been trained relentlessly in the Finnish wilderness by her ex-CIA dad, played by Eric Bana. She's tracked down by a CIA agent, played by Cate Blanchett, who seems hellbent on killing her. Well, unless Hanna can do it first. Watch on Netflix now. Oh, Paul Verhoeven how we’ve missed you. Elle brings back everything the director is famed for - controversy, satire and, well, more controversy. Elle sees the fantastic Isabelle Huppert play a businesswoman who is raped and decides to exact revenge on her rapist, except she doesn’t know who it is. Elle never goes the way you think it’s going to go and, despite the subject matter, is genuinely funny in places. It’s occasionally a tough watch but doesn’t offer the gratuity that some of Verhoeven’s other films are famed for. It’s Hupert here that makes the movie. She is subversive and simply superb.  Natalie Portman takes the lead role in this biographical drama about the life of Jackie Kennedy, which takes place after her husband John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. It’s a compelling but difficult watch at times, all about grief, trauma, consoling her children and Jackie’s struggle to create a legacy for her husband after his tragic death. As well as Portman, the movie has a great cast, including Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup, Peter Sarsgaard and John Hurt - it was the final film that was released just before Hurt passed away in 2017.  Beach Rats follows the story of Frankie, a teenager with a girlfriend and a seemingly 'normal' life who secretly meets up with older men to have sex and take drugs. He doesn't identify as gay or bisexual to his partner, friends or family. So this is a very powerful yet somehow dream-like look at his adolescent turmoil as he learns more about himself, the world and his sexuality. Some of the themes of the movie, as well as the visual aesthetic, have been compared to the likes of Moonlight and Beau Travail, so if you were a fan of either or both of those films then give this a watch. Historical drama denial is based on on a book call History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier by Deborah Lipstadt. It's about a case called Irving Vs. Penguin Books Ltd in which Lipstadt, a scholar specialising in the atrocities of the Holocaust is sued by David Irving, a Holocaust denier, for libel. Starring Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke and Julianne Moore, the story follows Maggie (Gerwig) who has decided she wants a baby and wants to raise it all on her own. But everything goes a bit wrong when she falls for John (Hawke) who is married to, you guessed it, Moore's character Georgette. A complicated, at times funny and emotional love triangle ensues.  An original Netflix film, Kodachrome follows the story of Matt, played by Jason Sudeikis, and Ben, played by Ed Harris, and estranged father and son duo who embark on a road trip joined by Ben's assistant, played by Elizabeth Olson, to the last place to develop Kodachrome film in the US - a small photo shop called Dwayne's Photo in Kansas.Watch on Netflix now. The Social Network is a biographical drama about the rise of Mark Zuckerberg and the early days of Facebook, as lawsuits, controversies and various other problems rolled in on the journey to it becoming a household name.There's been some controversy about the movie, especially considering Zuckerberg and no one else from the Facebook team were involved in its making. But it received many highly positive reviews, which is down to all aspects of the movie, from the performances from the cast through to David Fincher's directing and Aaron Sorkin's compelling script.  This generated a nice bit of buzz at Sundance and for good reason: Bad Day For The Cut is a grim, gripping Irish thriller about a farmer looking to avenge the death of his mother. First-time Writer/Director Chris Baugh knows how to ratchet up the tension and it certainly knows how to hit some nasty notes. Yes, you’ll probably guess where things are going to go, but it’s still a decent watch. Personal Shopper is a strange, but captivating movie. It shows off the acting prowess of Kristen Stewart who is superb as an American 'personal shopper' living in Paris who caters to the needs of an infuriating supermodel. And it just so happens, Stewart's character is also a medium who starts to interact with what she believes is her not-long dead brother. Personal Shopper is one movie which doesn't let you really know what it wants to be until the end - and that is what makes it great. Mudbound proves that Netflix is getting serious with the movies it is producing. This superb ensemble drama focuses on two brothers (Garret Hedlund and Jason Clarke) back from the second World War and the struggles they face adjusting back to ‘normal’ life. The film pulls no punches when it comes to tackling racism and sexism, both rife in 1940’s Mississippi, but layers these heady issues with a fair amount of levity and brevity. The cast are superb - Better Call Saul’s Jonathan Banks is riveting as always but Jason Mitchell is standout here - but it’s the tight script and wonderful, sweeping direction by Dee Rees that makes this movie truly and Oscar worthy. It’s rare that Tom Cruise gets upstaged in his movies but that’s what happens in Rain Man. This is because Dustin Hoffman puts in a performance of a lifetime as Charlie’s (Cruise) autistic brother Raymond. In the film we see Hoffman recite dates of airline crashes when he doesn’t want to fly, and this brings the brothers on a road trip after their father passes away. Cruise’s character in unlikeable for the most part but his softening to Hoffman’s Raymond is a beautiful watch - sometimes hilarious, sometimes tender.  Director Adam McKay was known for creating big belly laughs before The Big Short came out. And that’s what makes this movie such a surprise. It is funny in places, but it’s also a super-sharp look and - shock, horror - endlessly entertaining look at those who betted big the the housing bubble in the US would burst  in the mid 2000s. Filled with fantastic characters (played by Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling and Steve Carell) and a superb script, this is a must see. Dope was a revelation when it was released in 2015. Part coming-of-age drama, part hip-hop homage, the movie is about a group of teenagers who go to a party and end up tangled up in drug dealing. While that sounds all very gritty, the film plays it for laughs more than often, punctuated by moments of drama. A heartfelt and considered look at Martin Luther King Jr's struggle to gain equal voting rights, campaigning in racially-charged Alabama, Selma was one of the finest films of 2014 and was rightly nominated for a Best Picture Oscar as a result. It may have missed out on the top gong, but David Oyelowo's performance as the civil rights leader is a powerful one, with a supporting cast recreating the inspiring story with great respect. Don’t let the title or, for that matter, the plot put you off, Warrior is a fantastic movie, centred on two brothers who find redemption and solace in the biggest MMA tournament ever held. A superb script and superb performances from Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton as the brothers and Nick Nolte as the alcoholic father, make this a must see. Not only did Network spawn one of the greatest lines shouted in a movie - "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" - it also shone a light on US network television and its constant push for higher ratings. The plot is great: longtime anchor Howard Beale finds out that he is about to get fired, so to drive ratings he announces he will commit suicide on air. What ensues is a harsh look at TV that's still prescient today. Nicolas Winding Refn is one of the most divisive directors around and he's not looking to change that with The Neon Demon. Like Only God Forgives and the slightly more accessible Drive, Neon Demon is stylish, blood soaked and, well, cold. It features a fantastic central performance by Elle Fanning and never compromises - this makes for a difficult but ultimately rewarding watch. Anyone who doubts the acting caliber of Tom Hardy needs to watch Bronson immediately. Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn who found fame with Drive and the divisive Only God Forgives, Bronson is a fragmented, surreal look at one of the UK’s most famous prisoners, Charles Bronson. Hardy commands the screen as the titular inmate, bulking on the body mass and belting out charisma and chaos in equal measure. It’s not for everyone, thanks to its obscure storytelling, but this is a unique film and one that demands your attention. Pulp Fiction is Quentin Tarantino at his finest. Endlessly quotable and always a refreshing watch, Tarantino re-invents what a crime movie should be. He does this be interlocking seemingly unrelated stories in a non-linear way, riffing on pop culture and breathing new life into old actors - including John Travolta, Bruce Willis and Samuel L Jackson. This film deserves all the accolades it's garnered over the years. It's just a shame Tarantino has never bettered it. Okja is a fantastic movie that proves Netflix really does know what it's doing when it comes to commissioning films. Made by Bong Joon Ho, one of the greatest directors around, the film is the strange tale of a little girl and her best friend, a giant animal called Okja. The friendship is threatened when a CEO (a superb Tilda Swinton) wants to take Okja for nefarious means. The whole movie may well be an ode to animal activism but it's such a refreshing movie that you don't mind it preaching to you on occasion. Now you have this on-board Netflix, can you please grab the UK rights for Snowpiercer - another superb Bong Joon Ho movie that never saw the light of day in Britain.   This is a movie that was close to not being made. Just as shooting began, funding was pulled and it means that star Matthew McConaughey may have had to drop out, as he needed to put all the weight on he had lost for playing Ron Woodroof, an electrician diagnosed with Aids. Money was found, though, and we're glad it was as this is a sometimes harrowing but strangely uplifting account of someone who goes to the extra mile to get their hands on an experimental Aids drug that can lessen the effects of the disease. McConaughey is fantastic as the makeshift drug runner while his partner in crime is Jared Leto as Rayon, a trans woman who helps him on his journey. Despite the budget cut, there was Oscar nominations aplenty for the film with it winning Best Makeup. Considering the makeup was done on $250 budget, this is an impress feat. A quirky tale about a man called Harold Crick (played by Will Ferrell) who lives a normal, kinda dull existence and one day begins to hear someone narrating his life. Everything about the narration is super accurate, but when it reveals he's doing to die soon he tries to find the author to stop her, well, killing him off.  Some Like it Hot is a classic, and for good reason. Winner of numerous Academy Awards and Golden Globes, and featuring three of Hollywood's greats at the top of their game, it's a hilarious movie, with unforgettable central performances.After witnessing the Valentine's day massacre, two male musicians try to escape town in disguise, as women. If you've never watched it, treat yourself. If you have, you don't need any convincing to watch it again. Watch on Netflix Now This laugh-out-loud, yet totally heart-warming, comedy from Judd Apatow is perfect for easy Sunday watching. It's about a TV presenter, played by Katherine Heigl, who has to navigate the tricky ins-and-outs of having an unplanned pregnancy with the unemployed and kinda immature Ben, played by Seth Rogen. Watch on Netflix now.  Stanley Kubrick's 1964 satirical dark comedy classic has landed on Netflix. This dark comedy explores the fears around the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union, and the threat of impending nuclear disaster. Directed, produced and also co-written by Kubrick, the story centres around a US Air Force general who decides to order a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. It then follows the action of a bomber after it's set off, as well as the heated debates about calling off the whole operation before the general brings about the end of the world. Okay, so it might not be the light and easy watch you were looking for on a lazy, hungover Sunday. But it's a classic that's one of Kubrick's best.  The World's End is the worst of the Cornetto Trilogy but that's only because the other two are the superb Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz. The premise is great: Gary King (Simon Pegg) gets his old friends together to relive a pub crawl of their childhood. The only problem is, everyone has grown up into self-respecting adults except him. But none of this matters when the group of lads get themselves into a very strange situation. Full of fantastic sight gags that made Baby Driver the success it was, The World's End doesn't quite hit the high notes it should but it has a lot of fun trying in the process.  What a brilliant film. Pride manages to weave 'message' with entertainment effortlessly, charting the true tale of gay rights activists in the UK that help raise money for a small mining town when the strikes are happening. There's superb performances by all but it's the ever-brilliant George MacKay whose standout. The plot for this one is fantastic. It’s a road movie centred around two teenage bike thieves who go on an adventure after they get word that seven tonnes of cocaine has been shipwrecked off the coast of Ireland. Their plan is to get some of it and sell it for a better life. This is one of the funniest comedies to come out of Ireland for a while. It’s got a distinct Adam & Paul feel but is thankfully a bit lighter. Young Offenders is a coming-of-age story with oodles of charm.  A classic Jim Carey comedy, Ace Ventura Pet Detective follows a PI who specializes in missing animals cases. When the mascot for the Miami dolphins goes missing he's in for the case of his life. Expect a madcap adventure with a lot of energy and laughs. Richard Linklater's latest is a bedfellow to Dazed and Confused. Instead of the ’80s, though, the '70s is used as a backdrop instead and the focus here is very much what it is like to be a boy growing up into an adult. As with most Linklater movies, not much happens in the movie but the characterisation is so spot on, that it really doesn't matter. One of the best films you probably missed in 2016, The Nice Guys is cult director Shane Black at his best. Achingly funny and whip-smart, too, the film is about a private eye and a heavy in the '70s and the shenanigans they get up to. While Black went full Hollywood with Iron Man 3, The Nice Guys sees him back where he belongs - among the indie elite.  We don't really need to tell you the synopsis of the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot, do we? A load of paranormal enthusiasts/hunters all come together to stop an otherworldly threat. You know the drill. The great bit about the 2016 remake is it's a female-fronted ghostbusting team, featuring comedians and actors Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon. Critics were pretty divided when this version came out, with many praising the fresh approach but not being too keen on some of the story and script. Then again, it was always going to be near impossible to create a story so similar to the original. A cult comedy horror made in the same vein as Shaun of the Dead, Tucker and Dale vs Evil is a whole lot of fun. Hillbillies Tucker and Dale head out to a cabin in the woods for a vacation and, well, all horror breaks loose. With barrels of laughs and buckets of blood, don't expect award-winning performances but it's a lot of fun. Alexander Payne proves once again that he is one of the best directors around with Nebraska, a film that follows elderly Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) who embarks on a 750-mile journey to Nebraska to cash in the supposed winnings of a sweepstake. Nebraska is full of heart but also home truths when Woody arrives back in his hometown after years away. Based on Bret Easton Ellis' tale of greed, capitalism and serial killing, this 2000 dark comedy-meets-horror flick has a stellar cast, including Christian Bale, Reese Witherspoon and Willem Dafoe, among many others. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but it's a deep and intense rollercoaster ride through sprawling monologues, 80s pop tunes and murder.  Martin Freeman stars in this Australian post-apocalyptic thriller that's based on a short film of the same name. It's about a world overtaken by a zombie virus and a husband and wife who are trying to survive with their young daughter. They've managed to stay uninfected so far because they've been living on a houseboat, but as you can imagine, that all changes. It's been mostly praised by critics, who enjoy its refreshing take on the zombie genre, its emotional depth and Freeman's performance. A series of murders has ravaged London, which leads many of the locals to believe there's only one explanation: the mythical Golem must be to blame, a mythical creature from darker times. But, as you'd probably expect, it turns out it isn't a creepy monster that's to blame after all.  It's the perfect horror setup: 10 strangers are stranded in a motel thanks to a rainstorm. At the same time a murderer is about to be executed, only for his psychiatrist to make a last-ditch effort to keep him alive. So, how are these two tales linked? Well, that would be telling. Directed by The Wolverine's James Mangold, Identity may think it's brainier than it is but at least it's a whole lot of fun. Creep was a mini indie marvel when it came out a few years back. Ultra low budget, it starred  Mark Duplass and was base on his story about a videographer who puts an ad on Craiglist which leads to some terrifying home truths. In the sequel, Duplass is back and this time he lures someone to his home by claiming to be a serial killer. What ensues is a tense, brilliant low-fi ride. Joining Stephen King’s Carrie on Netflix comes another classic story from the horror author’s creepy collection: Misery. Bringing the tale of the story, which will be making anyone who has seen it wince right now, straight to your living room. The movie follows a famous author who is rescued from a car crash by a fan. We won’t spoil what happens next, but you can probably guess it’s not exactly the warm, homely kind of recovery you’d expect after you’ve had an accident. It’s certainly not one for the faint-hearted, so prepare to hide behind a cushion for about 50% of the running time.  Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula is an under-appreciated gem. It uses some old-school cinematic techniques to give the movie a classic feel and it really works - having back projection for some of the special effects offers up a really unnerving look at Dracula. Gary Oldman is fantastic as the titular character. The only let down is Keanu Reeves who is utterly miscast. If you can put up with that, though, then what you have is one of the most lavish horror movies ever made. The Purge is low budget but brilliantly high concept. The idea is that there is one day a year when the world can go a bit crazy murdering and looting and it's all completely legal. This makes for a fantastic adrenaline rush of a movie that's modelled on John Carpenter style 80s heist movies. It's really good fun, as is a number of the sequels.  Gerald's Game is one of Stephen King's leaner novels, with the majority of the action taking place in one room, with one woman (Jessie Burlingame) alone, handcuffed to a bed, after a night of passion goes awry, with just her thoughts, her dead husband, and a number of things that go bump in the night for company. With this in mind, director Mike Flannigan has managed to pull off an adaptation that could have been very one note, by creatively bringing Burlingame's - a fantastic Carla Gugino - thoughts to life. It's a bit too melodramatic at times and does suffer from the King curse of never knowing how to properly end his stories, but there's a lot to like about this Netflix exclusive. This horror story is all about a robbery gone wrong. The three thieves hoping to steal money from a blind veteran's home are in for a terrifying surprise when they realise he's much more violent, unpredictable and aware than they originally thought.  Blair Witch, the kind of remake, quasi sequel to the scare classic The Blair Witch Project was a big surprise when it first announced. Director Adam Wingard had made the film covertly with the title The Woods and then when it premiered at San Diego Comic-Con, they announced its link to the Blair Witch story and the crowd went, well, crazy. The film is a worthy addition to the franchise. It keeps the shaky cam stuff but also adds in some modern day twists such as drones and GPS. It takes a while to get going but once the scares start they are relentless.  This super-smart horror from Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard is a movie that tries its hardest to turn the horror genre on its head, with continual knowing nods to movies of the past and a post-modern spin of the well-worn 'cabin in the woods' theme. Don't go into this movie expecting a normal film-watching experience but do expect to have fun watching a highly original script at play. Thanks to Netflix's sometimes surprising rights, Under The Shadow has popped on to the service around the same time as the movie's Blu-ray release. We're glad it has. It's a fantastic horror film set in Tehran in the '80s, focusing on a mother and daughter seemingly terrorised by otherworldly beings in an apartment block. The dread in this film is slow release but palpable, making it a terrific, scary watch.  This ultra low budget movie comes from the Duplass Brothers and is one of the most inventive chillers in years. The plot is slight, it focuses on a man who answers a Craiglist ad to film what he thinks is a video for the person’s unborn son. And that’s all we will say about the plot as it twists and turns in on itself, terrifying the viewer repeatedly in the process. Stephen King’s classic tale of the trials and tribulations of high school, fitting in, oh and having extremely powerful telekinetic powers has landed on Netflix, bringing the unforgettable and gruesome bloodbath of the 1976 imagining to the small screen.  Hush has a brilliant premise. Directed by Mike Flanagan it revolves around a killer who tries to get the best of a girl in the house on her own. So far so 'every horror movie ever made', but the girl who is being stalked happens to be deaf. Yes, the home invasion genre is getting tired, but Hush manages to quietly breathe new life into it. One of the more high-concept horrors on the list, Would You Rather is about a group of seven people who are invited to a millionaire's house to play a game of 'Would You Rather'. The game turns out to be one of the most sadistic around. Justin Lin directs the latest instalment of Star Trek with bombast. And thank goodness he does, because the explosions and flash camera angles manage to mask some of the cracks in this film. Don't get us wrong: Star Trek Beyond is a lot of fun, but feels a little smaller than the first two rebooted movies. There's more humour, though, and the cast still shine. Next time, though, more Bones please! Alex Garland is a master of sci-fi. He directed Ex Machina, wrote 28 Days Later, and has now directed Annihilation. It has skipped past a wide cinema release, heading direct to Netflix. This sharp supernatural thriller sees Natalie Portman play a botanist investigating a mysterious, and expanding, wall of light in the deep south of America.  Netflix surprised everyone when it revealed it had the streaming rights to the third instalment of the loose Cloverfield franchise, the Cloverfield Paradox, and now it has the original film. Each Cloverfield film is different, and the original uses the 'found footage' narrative device to document an attack on New York by a huge alien monster. While the Cloverfield Paradox didn't quite capture the magic of the original, the first film is definitely worth catching while it's on Netflix. Given it was made in 1985, the effects of Back To The Future still stand up today. Actually, so does everything about the movie. It's a fantastic old-school romp that showcases Michael J Fox as one of the most affable actors around. Spielberg may have only produced the movie but his fingerprints are all over it. Back To The Future is a classic that is endlessly fun and rewatchable. The effects may look a tad dated now but The Abyss was SFX filmmaking at its best when it was released in the late '80s. Directed by James Cameron, sandwiched between Aliens and Terminator 2 in his oeuvre, the film is about a diving team looking for a lost nuclear submarine but instead encounter something wholly different. It's a thought-provoking slice of sci-fi that's more thriller than action. In the not-so-distant future, people are ranked, judged and given jobs not based on their abilities and interests, but on their genetic makeup. Gattaca follows the story of a man with less-than-perfect DNA (Ethan Hawke) who is desperate to travel into space, which is a privilege only reserved for the perfect. With the help of another man with 10/10 DNA (Jude Law), he tries to game the system to bag himself a seat on the next mission to the stars. As you’d expect from this clever sci-fi story, there are lots of challenges, problems and interesting twists along the way. Jim Carey has always been an actor that takes things to extremes - whether it's his face gurning or physical comedy. But nothing was quite like what he did in Man On The Moon, the Milos Foreman directed biopic of Andy Kaufman. Mixing exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes footage of Carey that the studios didn't want released, this is one revealing documentary about the things people do to make people laugh. Full of hubris that you can only get when a documentary crew gets more than they bargained for (see also: The Jinx), Weiner follows the mayoral campaign of Anthony Weiner only for him to be embroiled in a sex scandal as the cameras are still shooting. And the best bit about it is, the documentary was meant to be about Weiner’s comeback after another sex scandal that happened in 2011. It’s a tough but compelling watch.  Director Martin Scorsese may well be known for his Hollywood productions but he has a decent sideline in rock documentaries. The latest to hit Netflix focuses on George Harrison, knitting together archive footage with interviews and home movies. It’s a warm, revealing portrait of arguably the most talented Beatle and one that came out 10 years after his untimely death. With nuclear war still a threat today (and a growing one at that), a documentary on how atomic warfare came to be was always going to feel prescient but The Bomb feels like more than that. It's a full-on assault on the senses that weaves archive footage together to create a non-linear, experimental piece that's more mosaic than montage, with a message that's pretty clear: we need nuclear disarmament and we need it now. The Bomb toured the film festival circuit with live band The Acid and was even shown at Glastonbury's Shangri-La. While it's no doubt not as potent as it was in a live space, it's still well worth a watch. And if you need a non-Netflix companion piece, then check out Storyville, Atomic, Living in Dread and Promise by Mark Cousins. "Metal on metal / It's what I crave / The louder the better / I'll turn in my grave."Like a real-life Spinal Tap, the story of Anvil, the oft-forgotten heavy metal pioneers is as tragic as it is funny and uplifting. A huge influence on the likes of Metallica and metal's megastars, Anvil never got to enjoy the success of their peers, resigned to the axe-wielding history books.Except...Anvil never went away. Continuing to shred on the toilet circuit, the documentary follows the ageing rockers as they make one last attempt at hitting the big time.Throw up the horns, but keep a hanky at the ready – Anvil: The Story of Anvil is as good as a rock-doc gets. The White Helmets is, quite rightly, the winner of Netflix's first-ever Oscar. It was directed by the only British winner of the 2017 Oscars, too. Orlando von Einsiedel directs this stunning look at the day to day operations of the Syrian Civil Defense, volunteers who assist neighbourhoods that have been bombed, helping find survivors amongst the devastation. It may only be 40 minutes long, but the bravery and tragedy you witness will stay with you forever.  Netflix bagged its first Bafta thanks to this stunning documentary. 13th looks at race and the US criminal justice system, showcasing numerous injustices in the way African Americans have been treated in the system. The documentary was made by filmmaker Ava DuVernay, who also made the superb Selma. Some Kind of Monster is a intimate look at one of the most successful heavy metal bands ever, Metallica. This unflinching doc focuses on the band as they hit  a crossroads - the departure of their bass player. We see a band that's been together for 20 years talk through their emotions and pain points. By enlisting the help of a therapist, the documentary is a fascinating fly-on-the-wall look at a rock group in group therapy. One of the most important documentaries of the decade, Blackfish charts the life of killer whale Tilikum, who sadly died recently. Kept in captivity as a 'performance mammal' at SeaWorld, the doc explores the unsightly side of why keeping whales in captivity is a terrible idea. Blackfish had such an impact that SeaWorld decided to phase out its orca shows and rebrand itself. Powerful stuff. This Netflix exclusive documentary is a heart-wrenching look at one of the greatest singers of all time. While the highlights are definitely seeing Simone sing live - there's a huge amount of never-before-seen archive footage - it's the eye-opening truths about her troubled life that hit home hardest. Always one for a conspiracy theory - just watch JFK to see how creative his jigsaw-like thinking can get - Olive Stone was the perfect choice to direct Snowden - a film about Edward Snowden, arguably the most prolific leaker the US has ever had. Charting his life from his cut-short army career to his desk job in the NSA, focusing on cyberwarfare, the story humanises a person who already feels like a myth and adds bones to why he decided to go against the US government and uncover a truth that included mass surveillance and more. We know, we know, it sometimes doesn't feel quite right when a cult classic like OldBoy gets remade. Especially one that's been so popular over the years because it's so surreal, dark and chilling. How do you even begin to remake that sense of dark, skin-crawling unease? Well, Spike Lee gave it a good go in 2013. Josh Brolin plays the lead character, who is kidnapped and imprisoned for 20 years and then goes on a mission to find out why. Not for the faint-hearted, it's a decent remake, but as you'd expect didn't excite critics or gain cult status like Park Chan-Wook's original.  Leonardio DiCaprio plays the notorious high rolling stockbroker Jordan Belfort in this award-winning flick from Martin Scorsese. At times it's deadly serious, laugh-out-loud funny and in many ways a fable about the slippery slope a life all about money can send you down. Steven Spielberg's classic 1975 thriller has arrived on Netflix, telling the story of a giant, man-eating shark who likes to snack on people in New England. There was no doubt that Jaws would make our list given that it's often considered one of the greatest movies ever made. In fact, it was the highest grossing movie of all time for a few years until Star Wars hit the scene. In this hard-hitting crime drama Johnny Depp plays the notorious American mobster James "Whitey" Bulger. The story follows the infamous criminal career of Bulger as he heads up the Winter Hill Gang of South Boston. Martin Scorsese's flick Taxi Driver follows the story of a lonely veteran (played by Robert DeNiro) living in New York who becomes a taxi driver and slowly descends into madness watching the corruption and depravity of the city around him. It's not an easy watch, but it's a true classic and considered one of the greatest movies of all time. It's the movie which finally won Leonardo the Oscar and for good reason - The Revenant is a ferocious looks at mankind's survival against the odds. And when those odds include soldiers, bears and inhospitable lands they are definitely no in your favour. Shot entirely with available light, this is a stark movie but one that demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible.  Before Denis Villeneuve was wow-ing us all with Sicario, Arrival and Blade Runner 2049, he directed Prisoners. It's a crime thriller with a stellar cast, including Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal, about a child abduction. You'll be on the edge of your seat the whole time.  This crime thriller flick might not be award-winning, but boy does it keep you on the edge of your seat. Elizabeth Banks plays a woman who is sent to prison on a murder charge she denies, which leads her husband, played by Russell Crowe, to hatch a daring and detailed plan to break her out of prison. Watch on Netflix now. The Stephen King renaissance continues with 1922, a movie based on a little-known short story by the horror author taken from his 2010 Full Dark, No Stars compilation. It’s an assured film with a great central performance by Thomas Jane, who plays a farmer in the 1920 who murders his wife, a crime that sparks off a strange string of events. It’s slow burning but when the horror finally creeps in it’s a tough but mesmerising watch. Ben Affleck's directorial debut is a superb, taut thriller that's based on every parent's worst nightmare - the disappearance of their child. Ben's brother Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan star as two detectives who take on the missing person's case, even though they have little experience in a case of that type. Based in Boston, the film manages to showcase the heart of the city (where the Afflecks are from) as well as tell a tragic tale in the most human way possible. Kathryn Bigelow is one of the greatest action filmmakers around, so was perfect for helming Zero Dark Thirty. Based on the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, the movie keeps the terrorist mostly in the background and instead focuses on the people who were key to bringing him to justice. No one would like to see Bin Laden caught more than Jessica Chastain's Maya, an operative who has spent most of her career chasing him. Whatever your take on the War on Terror, this is riveting stuff. With Twin Peaks: Season 3 currently trying to out weird the world, it's a perfect time to immerse yourself in the delicious nastiness of Blue Velvet once more. The film is a triumph of oddness - based around a seemingly wholesome man (Kyle MacLachlan) who gets embroiled in the underworld thanks to his infatuation with a mysterious women. This is David Lynch at his finest. Antonio Banderas! Adrien Brody! John Malkovich! The cast for Bullet Head is an exciting mix of three great actors that you'd think would light up the screen with slick dialogue and electrifying performances alone, but instead Bullet Head throws them all in a warehouse that for some reason is really hard to just, walk out of, with a killer dog. And that's the rather strange, rather ridiculous but somehow still very entertaining premise of Bullet Head. This movie ain't gonna win any awards, but if you're craving a bit of mindless action and drama with three familiar faces at the helm, then Bullet Head might just be your perfect movie for hangovers and lazy Sundays.  Calvary is an intense, disturbing and at some points darkly funny story about a priest in a small, rural town in Ireland who receives a mysterious death threat. While waiting to find out who the shady, would-be killer is, the priest continues about his daily business, which reveals that criminal acts, racism and domestic abuse run rife in the community. It’s whatever the opposite of easy watching is, so be prepared. But it’s a very well-made and captivating move in which Brendan Gleeson really shines as the protagonist priest. One of the first movies to be made under the Netflix banner, Beasts of No Nation sees Idris Elba on fine form as a commandant fighting in a civil war. But the biggest praise has to go to Abraham Attah's Agu - a boy soldier caught in the fighting. Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga - who made the first season of True Detective the masterpiece it was - this is a harrowing but great watch. Fargo is the perfect Coen Brothers film. Funny enough to make you chuckle, it's also filled with some ridiculously dark moments, most of which involve Steve Buscemi's bumbling hitman and William H Macy as the cowardly corrupt Jerry Lundegaard. The star of the film, however, has to be Frances McDormand's heavily pregnant, inquisitive and just darn tootin' nice detective. Brian De Palma is a magpie filmmaker. His style apes that of his hero, Alfred Hitchcock, and he loves to make remakes. Blow Out is one of his best. A re-imagining of the seminal '60s film Blow-Up, De Palma moves the action from London to the US and focuses on sound not photography as Travolta stars as a sound effects producer who believes he has caught a real murder on tape.Also consider: Carlos The Jackal | The Purge: Anarchy | Gone Baby Gone | The Spy Who Came In From The Cold | We Need To Talk About Kevin | The Parallax View | Rear Window | Serpico | Natural Born Killers The ultimate romantic film? Perhaps. It’s definitely one of the best watches you are likely to have. When Harry Met Sally is an all-time classic, brimming with confidence that only comes when you nail the acting, script and direction. Sally is played by Meg Ryan, someone who has been friends with Harry (a pristine Billy Crystal) for years but lost contact. They meet up again, when their lives are a little different, and the rest is history. Rob Reiner does a fantastic, subtle directing job here but top marks go to the script by the late Nora Ephron.  Director Damian Chazelle (Whiplash) does it again with La La Land, creating a fantastic musical romance about two creatives trying to make it big in Los Angeles. One is an aspiring actress (the fantastic Emma Stone), while the other (Ryan Gosling) is a jobbing jazz musician hoping for his big break. The song and dance routines are a wonder to watch, but this isn't just a film that relies on gimmickry - it's a well told modern day love story. Yes, it was made to capitalise on the huge success of Indiana Jones, but this is no rip off. Directed by the brilliant Robert Zemeckis and blessed with two of the most charismatic stars of the 80s Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner, the movie is an absolute blast. It’s a film about a romance author who heads to Columbia to find her kidnapped sister, only to find herself face to face with an adventurer Michael Douglas. With equal measure action and comedy, Romancing the Stone is full of the fun only a rock-solid 80s flick can muster.  If you're looking for a feel-good movie this weekend, check out About Time. It's a genre-defying film that's about time travel, romance and has a big helping of laughs thrown in for good measure. Domhnall Gleeson plays a man who finds out he can travel through time, so decides to go and win the woman of his dreams. But, as with all time travel tales, things aren't as straight-forward (and not-to-mention chronological) as they seem. Watch on Netflix now. Wes Anderson’s quirky directing is a perfect fit for Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Fox. Lovingly crafted using stop animation that’s voiced by Anderson alumni, and George Clooney, the film works well as a kids animation, but it’s adults that will get the biggest kicks. Director Anderson is going back to stop animation for his next feature - let’s hope it’s half as good as the fantastic Fantastic Mr Fox. Charlie Brown and his dog, Snoopy, are iconic cartoon characters, and in this new computer-generated film, which was co-written and co-produced by Charles Schulz's son and grandson, is a brilliant continuation of that legacy, pleasing existing fans and winning over new ones in a tale that sees Charlie Brown try to impress Little Red-Haired Girl. It's the first Peanuts feature film in 35 years, but the wait was worth it. Yes it may be from the late 80s and nowadays robots should like more like the Westworld hosts rather than a big ol' pile of junk, right? But Short Circuit 2 is still an enjoyable sequel for the whole family. It's about Johnny Five, a sentient ex-military robot who is trying to help a robot inventor who is in some hot water with a bunch of bad guys. It's not going to win any awards for the story or the acting or anything else, really, but if you want to introduce your kids to fictitious robots from times gone by, this is a fun weekend watch. This movie may have not performed particularly well at the box office when it was first released, but it's still a magical movie suitable for all the family. It follows the story of Alice years after she first ventures down the rabbit hole. She's spent years at see and this time finds her way back to Wonderland when she comes across a magical looking glass. When she arrives she quickly embarks on a mission to save the Hatter, who is acting madder than ever.  Are remakes always a bad idea? On paper the 2016 The Jungle Book sounds like a recipe for a dud. It’s a new take on the Disney 1967 animated The Jungle Book, but with less music and more CGI. However, it also fills out the story’s world and adds more backstory for protagonist Mowgli. And, guess what, It works.  The BFG is brought to (larger than) life brilliantly by Stephen Spielberg and the acting talents of Mark Rylance. While the film may be a little too slow for younger viewers, it's a mesmerising watch. Full of the scatological humour of the book, but also slathered in beautiful imagery that blends the real world and CG seamlessly. Spielberg has done wonders to bring Roald Dahl's big classic to the big screen. Directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, who made the greatest Anime around Akira, Steamboy is a superb Victorian-London infused tale about a young inventor who has to do everything he can to make sure his granddad's inventions don't fall into the wrong hands. It looks amazing, but is sometimes let down by its storytelling. It's definitely worth a watch, though, even if it does get a little too silly. Roald Dahl's greatest book, Matilda, is given a great adaptation, thanks to director and star Danny DeVito. While brilliant at playing one of Matilda's awful parents, it's his direction that's key here - weaving together hyperreal imagery, a faithfulness to the book and the right balance of comedy and unpleasantness. Muppet madness ensues in The Dark Crystal - yet another classic brought to life by the majesty of Jim Henson and his puppet creations. It may not be as loved as Labyrinth but it's still a brilliant children's tale about the search for a crystal that once brought balance to the world.  Source link

[jackenglish]

Our movie tip today is "Denial". Based on the acclaimed book "History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier," it talks about Deborah E. Lipstadt's (Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz) legal battle for historical truth against David Irving (Cannes Award winner Timothy Spall), who accused her of libel when she declared him a Holocaust denier.

In the English legal system in Defamation, the burden of proof is on the accused, therefore it was up to Lipstadt and her legal team to prove the essential truth that the Holocaust occurred.

Image: Impawards

[olivierdemangeon]

  Synopsis : Deborah Lipstadt, historienne reconnue, défend farouchement la mémoire de l’Holocauste. Elle se voit confrontée à David Irving un universitaire extrémiste, avocat de thèses controversées sur le régime nazi qui la met au défi de prouver l’existence de la Shoah.

Origine du film : États-Unis, Royaume-Uni Réalisateur : Mick Jackson Scénariste : David Hare Acteurs : Rachel Weisz, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Spall, Andrew Scott, Jack Lowden, Caren Pistorius, Alex Jennings Musique : Howard Shore Genre : Biopic, Drame Durée : 1 heure et 49 minutes Date de sortie : 26 avril 2017 (France) Année de production : 2016 Sociétés de production : Krasnoff/Foster Entertainment, Shoebox Films, Participant Media, BBC Films Distribué par : Bleecker Street, Entertainment One Titre original : Denial Notre note : ★★★☆☆

Notre commentaire : “Denial” ou “Le Procès du Siècle” est un film dramatique historique anglo-américain datant de 2016, dirigé par Mick Jackson, à qui l’on doit également “Volcano” (1997). Le scénario est signé de David Haren basé sur le livre History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier. Les acteurs principaux sont Rachel Weisz, qu’on a pu voir dans “Identities” (20174), Tom Wilkinson, qu’on a pu voir dans “Felony” (2016), Timothy Spall, qu’on a pu voir dans “Duo ‘Escrocs” (2013), et Andrew Scott, qu’on a pu voir dans “Docteur Frankenstein” (2015).

En avril 2015, Hilary Swank et Tom Wilkinson ont été enrôlés pour incarner les personnages principaux du film. Gary Foster et Russ Krasnoff produisant sous leur bannière Krasnoff / Foster Entertainment avec un partenariat avec les sociétés Shoebox Films. Participant Media et BBC Films. En novembre 2015, on apprenait que Rachel Weisz avait remplacé Hilary Swank et que Timothy Spall avait rejoint le casting. Dans le même temps, il était annoncé que la société Bleecker Street allait distribuer le film. En décembre 2015, Andrew Scott, Jack Lowden, Caren Pistorius, Alex Jennings et Harriet Walter se sont joints au casting. Howard Shore a composé la bande originale du film.

Le tournage principal a débuté en décembre 2015 et s’est achevé à la fin du mois de janvier 2016. De nombreuses scènes ont été réalisés à Londres, mais également au camp de concentration d’Auschwitz en Pologne. La première a eu lieu au Festival International du Film de Toronto le 11 septembre 2016. Le film a été diffusé aux États-Unis dans un nombre limité de salles à partir du 30 septembre 2016 et au Royaume-Uni, à partir du 27 janvier 2017.

L’histoire proposée par “Le Procès du Siècle” nous invite à suivre le procès qui oppose David Irving à Deborah Lipstadt. Le premier étant un écrivain britannique, auteur de plusieurs ouvrages traitant majoritairement de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. David Irving bascule dans le négationniste, remettant en cause le génocide envers les Juifs par l’Allemagne nazie. Deborah Lipstadt, de son côté, est une historienne américaine, connu pour ses ouvrages sur l’holocauste et pour sa lutte contre les négationnistes.

David Irving va engager des poursuites judiciaires contre Deborah Lipstadt, ainsi que son éditeur, pour l’avoir accusé de mensonges et d’être un négationniste dans un de ses ouvrages. Etant donné qu’au Royaume-Uni, le fardeau de la preuve dans une affaire de diffamation incombe à l’accusé, l’historienne et son équipe juridique doivent prouver que David Irving a menti sur l’Holocauste. Leurs investigations iront jusqu’à les conduire dans le camp d’Auschwitz afin de comprendre et de mieux expliquer les différents points permettant de mettre en lumière leurs propos et accusations.

Le script met essentiellement l’accent sur la dualité qu’éprouve Deborah Lipstadt (Rachel Weisz) à vouloir mettre la souffrance et la mémoire des survivants dans la balance pour étayer sa position dans une affaire de négationnisme. Elle est bridée par son équipe de juristes qui veulent agir de manière stratégique afin d’empêcher David Irivng (Timothy Spall) de développer ses thèses nauséabondes.

Le personnage clé de cette sombre histoire judiciaire est probablement l’avocat Richard Rampton (Tom Wilkinson) qui défend les intérêts de Deborah Lipstadt. En effet, sous ses airs paisibles et tempérés, ce dernier s’avère être un redoutable stratège, qui mène avec habileté son adversaire de prétoire dans l’impasse de ses mensonges et de ses idées fétides.

Le développement mis en place dans “Le Procès du Siècle” a la particularité de ne pas insister outre mesure sur la Shoah en soit, mais aborde le sujet à travers le négationnisme. Cela prend une forme précise lorsque les principaux protagonistes se retrouvent à Auschwitz, en compagnie d’un spécialiste local, afin d’examiner les lieux sous l’angle juridique. Le personnage incarné par Rachel Weisz est choqué par la froideur et la distanciation que manifeste son avocat en évoluant dans ses lieux chargés de souffrances, alors qu’elle-même est bouleversée. Attitude qui trouvera ses explications dans la dernière partie du film.

Bien que le sujet soit délicat et peut être difficile pour certaines personnes, “Le Procès du Siècle” ne permet pas de dégager une empathie forte pour le personnage central, incarné avec une certaine justesse par Rachel Weisz. Ceci est dû au fait que dans l’histoire, son personnage est terriblement bridé par ses conseillers juridiques. A contrario, on éprouve rapidement de l’antipathie pour le personnage magnifiquement interprété par David Irving, qui joue habilement avec ses expressions de visage pour apparaître comme aussi ignoble que possible.

“Le Procès du Siècle” a fait l’objet d’une édition en DVD ainsi qu’en Blu-ray, paru le 6 septembre 2017 chez Warner Home Vidéo France. Pour de plus amples renseignements, n’hésitez pas à consulter la fiche du film sur le site DVD.Fr.

En conclusion, “Le Procès du Siècle” est un film juridique intéressant, qui démontre clairement les rouages du système judiciaire britannique. Le script est habilement écrit laissant suffisamment de place aux faits historiques sans pour autant en faire un film sur la Shoah à proprement parlé. La distribution livre de très bonnes prestations, mais malheureusement le développement ne permet pas de s’identifier à un personnage en particulier. La photographie est bien orchestrée, et les prises de vue à Auschwitz offrent un côté très respectueux des lieux, une vision très solennelle. Un film qui permet de présenter les faits par rapport à un procès, mais qui permet également de comprendre la dimension dramatique de ce qu’est le négationnisme dans toute sa stupidité.

  Bande-annonce :

LE PROCÈS DU SIÈCLE (2016) ★★★☆☆ Synopsis : Deborah Lipstadt, historienne reconnue, défend farouchement la mémoire de l’Holocauste. Elle se voit confrontée à David Irving un universitaire extrémiste, avocat de thèses controversées sur le régime nazi qui la met au défi de prouver l’existence de la Shoah.

[andrewgerm]

Denial (DVD) : Review

Denial (DVD) : Review

Film

Based on the book “History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier”, Denial follows the story of the book’s author Deborah E. Lipstadt (Rachel Weisz – The Light Between Oceans, Oz The Great And Powerful), acclaimed writer and historian and her legal battle against David Irving (Timothy Spall – Alice Through the Looking Glass), a renowned holocaust denier, who sues her for libel.…

[nancyedimick]

Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel barred from moving to the U.S., though his wife is an American citizen

German right-wing extremist Ernst Zundel sits in a court in Mannheim, Germany, on Nov. 8, 2005, at the beginning of a trial to face charges including incitement libel and disparaging the dead. (Michael Probst/Associated Press)

Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel apparently wanted to move to the United States from Germany. (I say apparently because the decision on which I’m reporting, just posted on Westlaw but decided March 31 by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Administrative Appeals Office, referred only to one E.C.Z., but both the initials and the facts described in the decision fit Zundel and likely no one else.) He would normally get an immigrant visa, because his wife of 16 years — who is about 80 years old — is a U.S. citizen. But he was classified as inadmissible because he has been convicted of foreign crimes for which the sentence was five years or more:

[I]n 2007 the Applicant was convicted in Germany of 14 counts of incitement to hatred and one count of violating the memory of the dead. The Applicant was sentenced to an aggregate of five years in prison.

And though a waiver of inadmissibility was possible, because of extreme hardship to Zundel’s elderly wife, the office concluded that there was good reason to deny the waiver:

The negative factors in the Applicant’s case include his long history of inciting racial, ethnic, and religious hatred. The record shows that the Applicant is a historical revisionist and denier of the Holocaust, distributing writings, books, tapes, videos, and broadcasts to promote his views. The record indicates further that these publications agitated for aggressive behavior against Jews. Furthermore, the Applicant has been a leader in these activities for decades and has shown no regret or remorse for his actions. Thus, we find that the negative factors in the Applicant’s case outweigh the positive such that a favorable exercise of discretion is not warranted.

Now, I think there’s nothing unconstitutional under current First Amendment law about the decision to exclude Zundel. Various Supreme Court cases, of which the most relevant is Kleindienst v. Mandel (1972), generally take the view that the First Amendment and similar constitutional provisions don’t apply to decisions on whether to let in an alien. American immigration law has long barred immigration by aliens who have been members of Communist parties; more recently, it has likewise barred immigration by anyone who “endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization.” The view seems to be: We have to live with schmucks who are already Americans, but that doesn’t mean we need to let in more. (Of course, the litigation over President Trump’s Executive Order might change this analysis: If the Supreme Court eventually concludes that the order discriminated based on the religious beliefs of most would-be visitors from certain countries, and that such discrimination violates the First Amendment, then — depending on the breadth of the Court’s rationale — that logic might equally apply to discrimination based on the political beliefs of would-be visitors and would-be immigrants, and might thus lead to an overruling of Kleindienst.)

But oddly, the decision suggests that Zundel might have had a legal right under existing law to immigrate after all (even if that right could constitutionally be taken away by a change in the law) — and that DHS’s Administrative Appeals Office might not fully understand American First Amendment law. The office stated,

A foreign conviction can be the basis for a finding of inadmissibility only where the conviction is “for conduct which is deemed criminal by United States standards.” Matter of Ramirez-Rivero, 18 I&N Dec. 135, 137 (BIA 1981).

(To give an example of the Ramirez-Rivero principle in action, one 2015 decision held that a 1997 Cuban conviction for “speculation and hoarding” couldn’t disqualify an alien from admissibility to the United States.) But as best I can tell from press accounts, Zundel’s speech that formed the basis of his German conviction would not have been “deemed criminal by United States standards.” Denying the Holocaust and expressing anti-Semitic sentiments is just not a crime under American law. Indeed, it can’t be made a crime, given the First Amendment.

But here’s what the office said as it went on:

In Brandenburg v. Ohio, the Supreme Court held that constitutional guarantees of free speech and free press do not permit a State to forbid or proscribe advocacy of the use of force or of law violation except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action. 89 S.Ct. 1827, 1829 (1969).

But, as the office notes, the Brandenburg exception is limited to advocacy intended and likely to produce crime in the next few minutes, hours or at most days (see Hess v. Indiana [1973]), the classic example being a speech to an enraged crowd outside a building, urging it to storm the building. To my knowledge, Zundel’s convictions don’t stem from such behavior.

So the exclusion of Zundel was itself not a First Amendment violation. But, based on Ramirez-Rivero — and certainly the office’s description of Ramirez-Rivero — it appears to have been a violation of American immigration law. And in the process of misapplying Ramirez-Rivero, the office seems to have erroneously concluded that Holocaust denial and the expression of anti-Semitic sentiments would be “deemed criminal by United States standards.” That strikes me as mistaken, though I’d be glad to hear any corrections or clarifications from readers who are more knowledgeable about immigration law than I am.

Originally Found On: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/04/24/holocaust-denier-ernst-zundel-barred-from-moving-to-the-u-s-though-his-wife-is-an-american-citizen/