2011: The Year in Film: "The Debt" Review

So I have been blogging... I just haven't been publishing. I have 3-4 half-written posts awaiting some TLC and a little effort.. but never fear, I actually saw a movie. The parentals were in town this past weekend, and so we thought it would be a good idea to see a movie. I couldn't talk them into "Drive" and my mom wouldn't see "Contagion" post-dinner, so we ended up with "The Debt", a remake of a 2007 Israeli film of the same name by Director John Madden.. probably best known for "Shakespeare in Love", which I would like to officially nominate as "Worst Best Picture Winner of All Time". Not that it isn't decent in and of itself, just that Best Picture flicks should be great... and Shakespeare in Love is not great. But enough about Shakespeare in Love (it can't help it that the powers that be in the Academy forgot what "award worthy" meant for a year and chose a comedy over 'Saving Private Ryan').. let's talk about The Debt. When talking about Israel and the background of what has become one of the truly hot-button issues in today's world, it's easy to forget that in our world of cause-and-effect, none of it would have ever happened if it wasn't for the Holocaust. The Nazi regime effectively eradicated the vast majority of the world's Jewish population, leaving the survivors to deal with the consequences. Whatever you think of the result, that's what's driven much of Israeli policy over the ensuing 60+ years. The myriad of reactions and consequences has been a popular subject for film for decades, and here we have a thriller that seeks to examine guilt and duty, memory, history and "truth" against the tableau that was the Mossad hunt for Nazi's in the 60's and 70's.

This film is set against the backdrop of a book publishing that highlights a mission in 1966 to capture a fictionalized version of Dr. Mengele in East Germany. A three person Mossad team operating in East Berlin sought to capture a Nazi war criminal and take him to Israel to stand trial.. and have been celebrated as heroes ever since. The film takes place roughly half in 1966 and half in 1997, as the book is published and the surviving team members are enjoying (to varying degree) retirement in Israel. All is not how it seems regarding the original mission, however, and the film does a very interesting job presenting, tangling and then untangling the threads of may in fact have been the truth. It sort of feels like "Spy Game" (Robert Redford and Brad Pitt) meets "Munich".. and that's not a bad thing.

First, let's talk the good. Hellen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson and Jessica Chastain are all outstanding. My boy Sam "Jake Sully" Worthington is given perhaps the most challenging role and does not shirk from the challenge. Chastain and Mirren play the same character, 30 years apart.. which is interesting in and of itself. There are some extremely tense scenes that are shot and played beautifully. The film does a great job in presenting something only to deconstruct it later.. what it shows may or may not be the truth. The subject matter is treated seriously, and the toll of deceit and grief feels very, very real. The intimate setting (the Berlin safehouse) and small cast gives a claustrophobic feel to the whole endeavor and helps to rachet up the suspense and sense of dread.

On the other hand, the jumping from time period to time period is done with varying degrees of success. It can be confusing as to what exactly is going on. Some of that has to do with the plot itself, and all is revealed in time, but I feel that if the script was a little tighter, it would be self-evident in real time.





All in all, this is no paint-by-numbers thriller. This is an adult flick that treats international espionage and black ops like something real with consequences rather than a cartoon. There are scenes that are tense and suspenseful that will leave you on the edge of your seat. Come for a spy/Nazi/Cold War thriller... stay for some great performances and sequences. So, despite the fact that the flick falls apart towards the end as its plot approaches nonsense, there is more than enough good here to redeem everything.

7/10