When I see films like this I start to think about how The Bourne Identity and its sequels have ruined the espionage genre for many people, sometimes me included. Why I say this is because it created this want for people to Bourne out on everyone they come across, fighting for survival and being totally BA.
Turns out there is a whole process that goes along with actually going through the exciting parts of a mission. In The Debt, the film follows three members of the Mossad (AKA Israel’s CIA) as they investigate a man in East Berlin believed to be the Surgeon of Birkenau, known for his horrific crimes as a member of the Nazi party.
There is far more to the story than the sentences above may lead you to believe, but let’s delve into this portion of the film first. Jessica Chastain, who is probably still living the high of her amazing performance in The Help, plays the one female in the three-person team tasked to bring this monster down.
Sam Worthington and Marton Csokas round out the team, and though I complain about how these two actors are paired up with the wrong counterparts in the closer-to-present day portion of the film (due to appearance, not acting), they still do great jobs in their respective roles, and all three play off of each other really well. As they spend their time enveloped in this mission, the stress breaks them down, cabin fever sets in, and tensions rise (including the sexual variety).
As we women do, Chastain is saddled with the main body of the crying, and she has the tears rolling down her face like a champ, to my slight annoyance. But following the psyche of her character does allow this character choice to slide a bit, especially in her dealings with Doktor Bernhardt / Dieter Vogel. As villains go he is rather nasty, but Jesper Christensen plays up his tactics in the psychological warfare he starts with his captors phenomenally, and in many ways it is through him that we learn the most about the three agents.
Which brings me back to the Bourne comment from before. There are plenty of bits of action in The Debt, but in many ways it is a character piece more so than an action story. This being for better or worse is solely up to individual preference. Me being the type of person who loves playing the stealth option of video games that allow for sneakiness or guns blazing doesn’t really find fault in this, but I can see how others would find it to be a tad slower than what they were hoping for, when combining the time spent sleuthing, being cooped up, and the scenes following the agents when they have aged way past their prime.
To further emphasize the importance of this mission to the people of Israel, some of the film is spent in the late 1990s to show the reaction to the outcome of this mission, and how the three agents deal with the part they played. Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, and Clarán Hinds are just as important to the film as their younger counterparts are, and each give nothing less than what is expected of them (AKA I continue to want Helen Mirren to be my 3rd grandmother).
Each time period of the film has important elements that add to the story and make it whole, but this is far from a linear film. In other words, the choice was made to edit it in such a way so that it doesn’t move from oldest event to most recent. Don’t get me wrong, it stays linear enough so that nothing is confusing in the sense of where it comes in the timeline, but this choice of editing makes the way in which the story is revealed to the audience much more interesting than had it gone a simpler route. Plus this adds for a great bit of editing for one scene in particular that reveals something very important (though I can’t say more for fear of spoiling its awesomeness).
Though I can understand that this spy film won’t satisfy those who eat, drink and sleep action films of the roided-up-men-exploding-things variety, I still highly recommend it for fans of the genre, as well as those who just like a good bit of drama. The acting is great, the story is engrossing, and I already mentioned it includes Helen Mirren. Come on, it’s Helen Mirren.
Final Grade: B Follow @BewareOfTrees
Having Said That... 