THE DEBT
UK, 2010, 113 minutes, Colour.
Helen Mirren, Jessica Chastain, Marton Csokas, Sam Worthington, Tom Wilkinson, Ciaran Hindes, Jesper Christensen.
Directed by John Madden.
A remake of a 2008 Israeli film of the same name with a strong cast and director, John Madden (Shakespeare in Love, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin).
This is a Mossad story with a number of twists.
We are introduced to a trio of agents who are welcomed home after tracking a sadistic Nazi doctor in Berlin. It is 1966. They are acclaimed as heroes.
Three decades later, a book on their exploits is being launched, written by the daughter of two of the team. When a long-absent member of the team suddenly re-appears, there is anxiety and a crisis for the other two.
The way The Debt is made is to show in some detail what happened in the pursuit of the doctor, their taking him, holding him captive and their attempts to get him out of Germany to Israel. This makes for dramatic tension as the trio use the female member of the team to approach the doctor for gynaecological advice. But, things go wrong. There are tensions between the three as they keep guard, trying to avoid the arrogant taunts of their prisoner. The three are played well by Jessica Chastain, Marton Csokas and Sam Worthington. The doctor is played with eerie menace by Jesper Christensen.
The plot from then on is one of those stories that publicists ask reviewers not to reveal because of the dramatic twists – and, in this case they are very interesting, leading to some surprising tensions.
The actors who portray the older trio are Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson and Ciaran Hinds. Top class cast, especially with Helen Mirren being at the centre of the second half of the film.
Some comments say that the Israeli version would have seemed more authentic and gritty because this version has stars, put on accents, and a higher budget for a glossier thriller. This is probably right, but The Debt is interesting and entertaining as we watch it.
1. An Israeli story? Mossad? Its activities? In post-World War Two Germany and Israel?
2. Berlin in the 1960s, the dinginess of East Berlin, apartments, the gynaecologist’s office, workplaces, factories, the railway station? In relation to the West?
3. The contrast with Israel in the 1990s, prosperous, the book launch, government offices?
4. The contrast with the Ukraine, life in the institution?
5. The title – whose debt?
6. The film based on an Israeli film? A westernisation of the style of the film?
7. The introduction, the reception, as the three agents returned to Israel? The story of their heroics? Their being feted?
8. The transition to the book launch, the 1990s, the writer as Rachel’s daughter, recounting the story of the heroics, her mother’s perspective? The irony of these flashbacks not being the truth but Rachel’s version through her daughter?
9. The flashbacks to the story as told by the author? The three, young, their meeting, reputation? Rachel and her being with the two men? Stephan as the leader, his bold approach? David, his age, his reserve? His timidness with Rachel? The plan, tracking Doctor Bernhardt? Rachel and the visits to the gynaecologist, a satisfactory cover? The confrontation with the doctor, the abduction, transferring? Holding him, trying to get him? waiting, the doctor refusing to do any deal? The West refusing to organise the transfer? The three taking turns for shifts? The process of feeding the doctor, taping him, talk with him – and Stephan not wanting them to communicate? The effect? David and his love for Rachel? The doctor taunting him? The psychological approach? Attacking the doctor? His escape, the shooting, the injuring of Rachel on the face?
10. Each of the three characters looking after the doctor, their personalities, their interactions, tough, the human touches?
11. The doctor and his life and career, Nazi beliefs, anti-Semitic? His cover as a gynaecologist? His discussions with Rachel? His behaviour in captivity?
12. The older David, his return to Israel, the older Stephan and his concern, the pursuit, the agents coming to David’s house, the pursuit in the car, his killing himself? The puzzle? Stephan going to Rachel?
13. Rachel, her dilemma, her daughter and her husband and child, their happiness? David carrying the burden for decades? Rachel and her self-esteem? Stephan and his concern about government and respectability?
14. The information about the Ukraine, Rachel deciding to go, the pressure on her? Going to the institute, her skill in getting in? Getting to the witness? The journalist, his questions? It not seeming real? Seeing the doctor, her pursuit? Confrontation, the truth? The contrast with the man who claimed to be the doctor, his mental state? The fight, the deaths?
15. Stephan, considering himself safe?
16. The final message, Rachel and her stance, the risk of being exposed?
