The beginning of this movie is extremely strong. We see three hesitant young people stepping out of a cargo plane at an Israeli airport. 'Take a deep breath', says one of them. It's as if he is warning the audience for what comes next. In the first 20 minutes of the movie, we see a gala event where a proud daughter presents a book about her clearly uneasy mother, a flashback showing an intriguing fight with a man getting killed and a woman hurt, and a very spectacular suicide.
We know the events are connected. The girl emerging from the cargo plane has a bandage on her right cheek, the uneasy mother has a scar at the same place and the woman in the flashback has wounds on the right side of her face. The script also gives us clues: the daughter tells about her mother being 25, and the flashback is a chapter from the book she has written, read by her mother at the gala event.
Sounds complicated? It is. The movie starts by giving the audience story elements that fit together when the film evolves. It's about three Mossad agents trying to kidnap a war criminal in East-Berlin, but failing to do so. A large part of the movie shows the goings-on in Berlin, where the three agents are in constant fear of being discovered. The war criminal, who is being held captive in their apartment, plays cruel psychological games with the three of them. The triangular relationship between the three agents complicates matters even more. This part of the movie is very good, and ends with the fight we have seen at the start. But here, the movie takes a surprising twist.
I found the last part of the film, which is set in the present, less convincing. It gives star actress Helen Mirren more screen time, but could just as well have been a short epilogue of a few minutes. This part has some improbable twists. And in spite of Mirren's star power, I found her performance less impressive than the one by the talented and beautiful Jessica Chastain, who is the central character in the Belin part.
In spite of all this, I very much enjoyed watching The Debt. It's a well made espionage thriller, with some exciting scenes, and an intelligent script with some nice surprises. The performances by Chastain and Mirren are extra reasons to go watch this movie.
We know the events are connected. The girl emerging from the cargo plane has a bandage on her right cheek, the uneasy mother has a scar at the same place and the woman in the flashback has wounds on the right side of her face. The script also gives us clues: the daughter tells about her mother being 25, and the flashback is a chapter from the book she has written, read by her mother at the gala event.
Sounds complicated? It is. The movie starts by giving the audience story elements that fit together when the film evolves. It's about three Mossad agents trying to kidnap a war criminal in East-Berlin, but failing to do so. A large part of the movie shows the goings-on in Berlin, where the three agents are in constant fear of being discovered. The war criminal, who is being held captive in their apartment, plays cruel psychological games with the three of them. The triangular relationship between the three agents complicates matters even more. This part of the movie is very good, and ends with the fight we have seen at the start. But here, the movie takes a surprising twist.
I found the last part of the film, which is set in the present, less convincing. It gives star actress Helen Mirren more screen time, but could just as well have been a short epilogue of a few minutes. This part has some improbable twists. And in spite of Mirren's star power, I found her performance less impressive than the one by the talented and beautiful Jessica Chastain, who is the central character in the Belin part.
In spite of all this, I very much enjoyed watching The Debt. It's a well made espionage thriller, with some exciting scenes, and an intelligent script with some nice surprises. The performances by Chastain and Mirren are extra reasons to go watch this movie.