The Debt (2011): Untruth and Consequences

In 1966, three young Mossad operatives tracked down a notorious Nazi war criminal in East Berlin and brought him to bay. The three agents, Rachel (Jessica Chastain), Stephan (Marton Csokas) and David (Sam Worthington) were hailed as national heroes back home. In 1997, Rachel’s daughter, Sarah, is about to publish a new book about the adventure to great fanfare. But, Rachel, Stephan and David (their older selves played by Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson and Ciarán Hinds) have been harboring a terrible secret about what really happened in East Berlin, and, it seems that the real story is about to be revealed. Can they do anything about it? Should they? How does it feel, as a moral person, to have lived with a lie all of your adult life? Can one undo such a thing 30 years on? And in public life, what's more important, the perception of a thing or the truth about that thing? 

The Debt, an English-language adaptation of a 2007 Israeli film by the same name (Ha-Hov in Hebrew), gives us an interesting story, part thriller and part morality drama, and it raises interesting questions. In the hands of director John Madden, it's pretty well told, too. The opening scene is a preface to the narrative: we see the three young heroes about to deplane in Tel Aviv to photographers flashbulbs and an excited press corps. Flash forward to 1997, and the publication party celebrating Sarah’s book. Rachel (Mirren) should be happy, but she’s troubled; and when David (Wilkinson) arrives we quickly understand that she’s not the only one. At Sarah’s request, Mirren reads an excerpt from the book to the guests, and we’re off into a thrilling flashback showing us the official version of the heroic story.


The rest of the film moves back and forth between 1997 and 1966. We learn what really happened, why that story was not made public, and the terrible toll that the secret has exacted on the three protagonists. 

We also meet the most vivid character in the story, Dr. Bernhardt (Jesper Christensen), the "Butcher of Treblinka", a Josef Mengele-like villain, who committed horrible crimes against humanity in the name of Nazi science, during the war. What is fascinating about Bernhardt is partly the humanization of evil, i.e. how putting a face and a personality to such a monster inevitably allows us to almost sympathize with him ; and partly Bernhardt’s shrewd attempts to manipulate and get under the skin of the Mossad agents who capture him. The psychological dance that results is intriguing and creepy.

But the main character in this picture is Rachel. Jessica Chastain nails the role of this young, tough, committed, and yet vulnerable young woman. Much of the suspense - and the real thrills of the story - are embodied in young Rachel’s experiences, and Chastain carries all of this off with aplomb. Mirren, playing fifty-something Rachel, struggling with the fallout years later, is always fun to watch. It is not a happy role she plays – dealing with death, complicity in the big lie (knowing that she has not only lied to her daughter, but that this may undermine Sarah’s success), and understanding that she now must undertake the distasteful and dangerous task of "fixing" a festering situation that her younger self helped create. Conveniently, the two actresses look enough alike to make the transition between the 1960’s character and her 1990’s self plausible. 

The same cannot be said about her two cohorts. Tsorkas and Wilkinson, as Stephan, young and old, look nothing alike; nor do Worthington and Hinds as David. In fact, Hinds looks a lot more like Tsorkas, and Wilkinson looks a lot more like Worthington. A Bronx cheer to the casting director! Worthington, whom I last saw as the disabled Marine in Avatar, has a couple of terrific moments; and Hinds, one of my favorite English actors, is touching as the sorrowful, older David. Wilkinson handles his limited role as the older Stephan capably.

The finale is an action sequence involving Mirren which, though implausible, is exciting to watch. It’s nice to see old folks get some ‘action’. Harrison Ford still does it; Liam Neeson, too, in Unknown; so why not Mirren?

The movie does pose some interesting questions about Truth. The Mossad agents original mission was to bring Bernhardt back to Israel to stand trial, so the Truth would be known and his evil would not be forgotten. Instead, the legacy of their mission was a lie. David argued at the time that no one would be harmed by changing the story, and in fact it would be for the greater good. But the propagators suffered for it.

The director, John Madden has never been associated with action or suspense flicks, but the best thing about The Debt are the action/suspense scenes of the young protagonists. Several of his films have been thoughtful or thought provoking, particularly Corelli’s Mandolin (2001) and Proof (2005). Clearly, The Debt is aiming for the same territory. It succeeds to dome degree, but as I left, the theater, I couldn’t help thinking it could have been better still. A little too much exposition, too few loose ends. Somehow, the package is a little too neat...

In current release.