The Debt (an American remake of a 2007 Israeli film of the same name) is best described as a story on two levels. On one level, it's a melodramatic espionage thriller that takes places in the 1960's, while on the other, it's a mystery that unfolds thirty years later, one that is centered around the events of the original espionage mission. The film cuts back and forth between these two story lines, with a different trio of actors portraying the three main characters in each story line.
In 1966, a trio of Israeli Mossad agents - Rachel Singer (Jessica Chastain), David Peretz (Sam Worthington) and Stefan Gold (Marton Csokas) - are sent behind the Iron Curtain in East Berlin to kidnap an escaped Nazi war criminal, Dieter Vogel (Jesper Christiansen), the infamous "Surgeon of Birkenau". The mission goes awry when, after successfully capturing Vogel, the plan to smuggle him out of East Berlin is disrupted and they are forced to go into hiding while they try to make other arrangements. It is while he is being held prisoner that Vogel overpowers Rachel and almost escapes, leaving her face grievously scarred in the process. But Rachel manages to shoot Vogel before he gets away, killing him, and the trio return to Israel as heroes and their mission becomes a Mossad legend. Later, Rachel and Stefan marry, for reasons that are quite frankly never made clear and end up having a daughter, and David decides to leave.
But in the current day (1997) story line, things are more complicated. Rachel (Helen Mirren) is being honored at a publication party for her daughter Sarah (Romi Aboulafia) who has written a book about her parents' legendary mission. Already visibly uncomfortable when asked to read a key passage from the book, Rachel becomes even more displeased when Stefan (Tom Wilkinson), now in a wheelchair and from whom she is completely estranged, shows up at the party, a situation clearly set up by Sarah who had told her mother than he wouldn't be there. At the same time, David (Ciaran Hinds) has also resurfaced, clearly troubled. And we begin to learn that there are cracks in the legend, and ultimately, that the legend is nothing but a self-serving lie that all three have lived with for the last thirty years.
I will acknowledge that my reaction to The Debt is in the minority as it was garnered a fair amount of critical praise, but that said, I found myself ultimately disappointed. I cannot fault the performances of the stellar cast, nor can I really fault the director, John Madden, beyond the pacing problem. I would probably lay the blame for my overall reaction with the script (the one done for the remake) which was written by Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman. I have not seen the original Israeli film on which it was based, but in reading the plot summary it appears that some substantial changes were made for this version and that, from what some reviewers say, the original was better. But that aside, for me the problem with The Debt lies in the fact that it requires some considerable suspensions of disbelief, and that, quite frankly, most of the characters are not particularly likeable or sympathetic. Stefan is a manipulative, self-centered ladder-climber whose only concerns are his ambitions and his career. And both Rachel and David are easily manipulated, in addition to forever vacillating in their feelings towards each other, towards Stefan, and inexplicably at times, towards Vogel. And in their older selves, they have not grown wiser so much as simply worse.
The pacing in the beginning is also something of a problem and I actually found myself falling asleep before things finally picked up with the abduction of Vogel. But even when things did pick up, I found myself not really liking it all that much. The characters were so flawed as individuals - and even more flawed as a team - it was difficult to accept the initial premise. I wouldn't have sent that crew around the corner to pick up a pack of gum, let alone behind the Iron Curtain to kidnap an escaped Nazi. And the fact that they weren't very sympathetic as individuals made the tepidly melodramatic love triangle subplot more tedious than anything else. I also found it difficult to believe that Vogel would've left Rachel alive before fleeing the apartment. Or that any competent intelligence officer would've simply accepted their story when they got back.
It also says something when the only halfway interesting scenes are the ones with the Nazi doctor, even when written as it is in the The Debt as something of a cliche. For that I'd have to credit the actor - Jesper Christensen - who manages to at least make his repellant doctor fascinating to watch - much like a particularly vicious caged rat - even if you've seen the basic character in countless movies before and the dialogue is just variations on the same old theme. That Christensen's Vogel, even with the clichés, was about the only thing in The Debt worth seeing, says a lot about the rest of the film. As does the fact that even having Vogel for contrast does not make the ostensible heroes particularly sympathetic.
Again, I recognize that my opinion is a minority one. If you read a review by someone you trust and they say see it, then go ahead. For myself though, I'd say The Debt is okay if you don't go in expecting much and if you can wade through the ramped-up self-inflicted angst the main characters wallow in for most of the movie.
