The Debt is a taut well crafted cold war era espionage thriller. The film focuses on the lives of three Israeli Mossad agents in 1997. They are lauded as the daughter of one of the agents publishes a book about their heroic exploits in tracking down the infamous Surgeon of Birkenau. The film exposes that all is not as it seems and transports us back to 1966 to examine what actually happened. Like any cold war spy thriller, the plot twists and turns and choices are made and questioned. The movie does an effective job weaving the present and past as it searches for the truth.
The three agents are Rachel, Stephan, and David (played in 1997 by Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, and Claran Hinds respectively). Their younger selves are played by Jessica Chastain, Martin Csokas, and Sam Worthington [also respectively]). If there is a seemingly petty critique I have of this film, it is that I did not always suspend my disbelief that the younger selves were actually the older selves. None of them really looked like their older selves, nor did they bear any similar personality traits. This is essential if we are to have a seamless transition between the two time periods. This is an exceptionally difficult task when the two sets of characters are constantly compared and super imposed. The film did not achieve this transition effectively. However, the film still had strong merits and I was able to adapt to if not overcome this flaw.
I found it particularly interesting how the film opened with Rachel reliving the heroic capture and eventual resolution of the evil Nazi Dr. Bernhardt (played by the eternally evil Jesper Christenson) during a book reading of her daughter’s book about their exploits. The film flashbacks as Rachel reads the chapter to a group of admirers. However, with the mysterious suicide of David and the discovery of an article from a hospital in the Ukraine , we begin to learn what we saw and believed is not actually what happened. The journey begins to discover the true nature of the mission and how Rachel and Stephan will cope with the truth that has lain dormant for almost 30 years.
The Director, John Madden, does a more than competent job at recreating the events and infuses his scenes with excruciating suspense. Unfortunately, the younger characters are infinitely more engaging than the older versions of themselves and I found the jumping back and forth in time to be a distraction as my interest was squarely focused on the events from 1966. Stephan was and is the leader of the group, but you can sense his fear every bit as much as the others as they track down the boogey man from their past. Their fear is trumped by their anger that the Nazi surgeon who killed and maimed so many Jews is leading a normal life as a German gynecologist. The film's intense scenes were enhanced by the POV camera angles and the suspense is worse than the reality. This is what makes film so effective, the ability to paint emotions and feeling as well as images. Rachael’s fear is unbearably palpable as part of their capture plan involves her posing as a new patient. Imagine the courage necessary of being examined while in stirrups by a man you consider the epitome of everything evil.
Unlike many spy thrillers, their plans are not executed flawlessly and the audience shares their panic as events go awry. They are forced to adapt even as they see no way out. Much of the film dwells on the characters' dynamics as they are forced to interact with their now captive monster. Not just the interactions with him, but the tensions with each other. As I stated earlier, Jesper Christenson is a Danish actor who plays evil as good as anyone. His conversations with his captors almost rise to the level of Hannibal Lector creepiness. It is easy to demonize him, but he doesn’t let you. He shows that he is very much human even as he displays that he is a monster. That is the rub that really hits home. We tend to look at people who do unspeakable things and slap the label of insane on them as that allows us to marginalize them. It allows us to sleep believing they are an exception to humanity that can be wiped out. Dr Bernhardt poses the correct question; there were millions of Nazis, are you saying they were all ‘insane’? It raises the fear that it is something we are all capable of given the right circumstances.
I cannot go further into detail without revealing plot spoilers, but I will say that this movie is not a typical cold war spy thriller. It examines the nature of truth and perception and the lies we tell ourselves and others. It asks if truth is more important than perception and does telling the truth trump everything else. There are no easy answers, but a good film does not always have to answer these questions. Sometimes raising the question is what good film making and art is all about. The Debt was a good, intense thriller for anyone who misses the days of cold war stories.
I give this film ***1/2 stars
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