The Debt
Movie Review
"The Debt"
Review by Eric D. Snider
Grade: B
Rating: R
Released: Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Directed by:
Cast:
"Truth is a luxury," says Tom Wilkinson in "The Debt." "Some people have to put other things first -- their country, their family." As far as justifications for lying go, that's a pretty good one, and Wilkinson delivers it with his usual conviction. Some of us might even take his side with regard to the specific issue being discussed. The movie does not, however. Based on a 2007 Israeli film, "The Debt" doesn't permit much wiggle room on matters of right and wrong, but it's an intelligent, well-crafted, and grown-up espionage thriller.
We are introduced to two timelines. In 1966, a trio of Mossad operatives arrive at an Israeli military airport. One of them, a woman, has a bandage on her cheek. In 1997, a journalist is publishing a book about her mother, Rachel Singer (Helen Mirren), who is evidently famous for some reason and whose facial scar tells us who she is. Other tantalizing details are established: Rachel has had a frosty separation from her husband, Stephan Gold (Tom Wilkinson), who presumably was one of the men she worked with in 1966. He's now in a wheelchair. A third operative, David Peretz (Ciaran Hinds), has been invited to the book-release luncheon, but has found a way to avoid it. We can see that a lot has happened in the intervening 30 years, and we want to find out what. We're hooked.
I'll let the film fill you in on the details, since that is what the film does best. Smoothly directed by John Madden ("Shakespeare in Love") from a screenplay by Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman (the duo behind "Kick-Ass" and "X-Men: First Class") and Peter Straughan ("The Men Who Stare at Goats"), "The Debt" jumps back and forth in time prudently and effectively, providing new information about 1965-66 that sheds light on the situation in 1997.
In general terms, though: The young Rachel (Jessica Chastain), Stephan (Marton Csokas), and David (Sam Worthington), are Mossad agents on an undercover mission in East Berlin. Rachel and David must pose as a married couple, and all three live together in close quarters. The mission, which involves an OB/GYN named Dr. Bernhardt (Jesper Christensen), requires patience and careful planning, and the mechanics of it are provided in scintillating detail.
In the meantime, Rachel adjusts to working with the passionate, hotheaded Stephan and the enigmatic David. She has a personal stake in the mission, too (it was inevitable that someone would) and must walk the line between steely Mossad agent and vulnerable human being. Jessica Chastain, already a breakout in "The Tree of Life" and "The Help," conveys Rachel's tension and emotion skillfully, supported by strong performances by Csokas and Worthington. The latter has been criticized (quite rightly) for being wooden and inscrutable, but here those traits are appropriate.
Mirren, Wilkinson, and Hinds have significantly less screen time than their younger counterparts, but they make the most of it like the seasoned professionals they are. Mirren even gets to deploy some of the old-lady-kicks-butt skills that were underused in last year's "RED" -- always a welcome sight. It may not be the deepest or most resonant action-drama of the year, but it's respectable, solidly constructed entertainment.
Grade: B
Rated R, some fairly strong violence, a little mild sexuality, a smattering of F-bombs
1 hr., 44 min.
Copyright © Eric D. Snider.
This work may not be transmitted via the Internet, nor reproduced in any other way, without written consent from Eric D. Snider.
This item has 6 comments
September 2, 2011 at 4:10 pm
Oh boy, another film that gradually humanizes the Mossad. The last one I remember was Adam Sandler's comedy where he plays a Mossad agent cum hairdresser. There is currently a cultural and academic boycott against Israel, organized by the nation they have cut off from trade, food, their own resources -- even from humanitarian aid. It's the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. http://www.pacbi.org/
As an adaptation of an Israeli film, this falls into that boycott. As another soft propaganda film, it certainly falls into the boycott. I urge people to do a little background reading about the Palestinian cause, keeping in mind that Israel is currently paying millions of dollars in Public Relations fees, and exerting every bit of its considerable influence to try to rewrite the coverage of the situation. Even so, Israel's campaign to terrorize and seize land from the Palestinians is unpopular in the eyes of the world. There is plenty to read about it, especially outside the US/UK press.
Eric, I appreciate your reviews. I have replied here before. I just hope that you can take another look at the injustices that preponderate on the Israeli side, and see the need for this.
September 2, 2011 at 5:31 pm
This film is about Mossad agents hunting down a Nazi war criminal. No matter what you think of Israel, you must agree that Nazi war criminals deserve to be hunted down.
If you want to boycott ALL Israel-related things, that's your prerogative. But just for the record, this particular Israel-related thing has nothing to do with the Palestine conflict and has no "propaganda" in it -- other than the idea that people who work or have worked for Israel may indeed be human beings, which I did not realize was a controversial position.
September 2, 2011 at 5:52 pm
Oh look, another anony-troll advocating a boycott of Israel, The Worst Nation There Ever Was Ever.
Something I've noticed about the BDS crowd: they've got a $20 bill and a pair of underwear, and they're not going to change either. So yeah, go on pretending that you're going to stop buying things you were totally going to buy if not for the fact that you're such a righteous consumer. The rest of us know that you download all your movies from BitTorrent.
September 2, 2011 at 7:19 pm
As someone whose earliest memories of World News were the '94 Nobels and Rabin's assassination for said award a year later and has kept up with conflict since then, yeah . . . there's always more going on than just one side.
September 2, 2011 at 8:50 pm
I'm going to see this movie for the simple reason that Just Us doesn't want me to.
September 2, 2011 at 10:11 pm
After reading Just Us comments, I hate to make sure I had clicked on the right movie review. For a minute there I thought I had accidentally clicked on the review for Munich. I liked "The Debt" overall despite the annoying love triangle. I wished the characters were a little less brooding and more likeable. I'm not an expert on Israeli accents but I thought Chastain was trying a little too hard to sound authentic and Worthington struggled at times to bury his thick Aussie accent. But the movie was put together well and whoever played that Nazi doctor was brilliant. He was by far the more intriguing character.