Movie Review: 'The Debt'

“The Debt”
Directed by: John Madden
Starring: Helen Mirren, Jesper Christensen, Tom Wilkinson, Ciarán Hinds, Sam Worthington, Jessica Chastain, Marton Csokas
Rated: R

John Madden - the film director, not the sports commentator/Tinactin pitchman - has only made a few movies, but his résumé is impressive.

His best known work is most likely “Shakespeare In Love,” but my personal favorite of Madden's films is “Her Majesty, Mrs. Brown.” It's the story of Queen Victoria, who caused quite the scandal when it became known that she was romantically involved with “commoner” John Brown, a servant in her court.

With his latest piece, Madden remakes a little-seen 2007 Israeli film “The Debt (Ha-Hov)” with great results. It's a taut thriller that will bring to mind the popular spy novels of John La Carré, Frederick Forsyth and even the now-classic Ian Fleming James Bond books.
 
“The Debt” swings back and forth in time between 1965 and 1997, with the main action and setup taking place in the earlier time frame.

In the early scenes, we're introduced to three agents of the Israeli Mossad - Stephan (Marton Csokas), David (Sam Worthington) and Rachel (Jessica Chastain). They have been given a mission to track down and capture one of the few remaining Nazi war criminals and deliver him to Israel for a public trial. He's Vogel, a doctor formerly known as "The Butcher of Birkenau.”
All three of the trio remember him well. They were prisoners at Birkenau. Rachel still has physical scars from her time there, and they all have emotional scars beyond imagination.

The doctor is now living in Berlin and has reinvented himself - much like Laurence Olivier's character did in “Marathon Man.” He has changed his name and set up practice as a gynecologist.

Rachel has the unenviable task of submitting herself to an exam that is the setup for the kidnapping mission. It's a chilling, intense scene.

The kidnapping actually works and the Mossad trio find themselves with their former captor now their captive.

The psychological aspects get deep at this point. One of the trio wants to just shoot Vogel and get it over with. Another argues that they cannot stoop to his level and reminds the others their mission is to deliver him to the authorities for trial.

Other uneasy moments occur when Vogel, who is arrogant and unapologetic about his past, engages Rachel in conversations. Her cohorts demand there should be absolutely no communication with the doctor, but Rachel is as compelled as she is repulsed, and Vogel is persistent.

What eventually happens in the apartment is inevitable, and it changes the lives of everyone involved.

We then jump ahead to 1997. The agents have kept their distance from each other for years, but events have brought them back together. It's not what you'd call a happy reunion, but there are things that need to be done.

There are two sets of the main cast. In 1965, Rachel is played by Jessica Chastain, David is Sam Worthington and Stefan is Marton Csokas. Jumping ahead 32 years, they are portrayed by Helen Mirren, Ciarán Hinds and Tom Wilkinson. Vogel is played by Jesper Christensen in both eras and is aged with makeup for the 1997 version.

There's not a bad performance among the ensemble cast, though Mirren (as usual) is the most riveting.

There are many uncomfortable scenes - prison camps and brutal medical examinations tend to be that way - and a few action scenes (car crashes and the like) to satisfy the viewers who crave that sort of thing. But the real action is psychological.

“The Debt” may make you flinch at times, but that's the point.

Madden and his cast succeed in their attempts to unsettle viewers, and while films that profess to be “based on actual events” usually stretch the facts for dramatic purposes, I imagine that the real story here was even more chilling than the one that is on-screen.

It's a great film and surely will make every critic's Top 10 list for 2011.[[In-content Ad]]