The Debt - 3 smiles

Although the storyline for “The Debt,” is relatively easy to understand, director John Madden keeps his scenes crackling with tension as he jumps back and forth between events in 1966 and 1997, but the segments that transpire in Cold War East Berlin are especially compelling. Madden gets the paranoid feel of 1960s Berlin perfectly. Whereas the sequences in 1997 have less urgency and the climax feels too contrived and less believable. In 1966, three Mossad agents, Stephan (Marton Csokas), David (Sam Worthington) and Rachel (Jessica Chastain), are brought together in East Berlin to capture Nazi war criminal Bernhardt (Jesper Christensen), the ‘Surgeon of Birkenau’ and deliver him to Israel for pubic trial. Unfortunately, things don’t go according to plan and nearly 30 years later, these three gather once again. Stephan (now Tom Wilkinson) has a secret that needs to be kept; David (now Ciaran Hinds) is weighed down by guilt, and Rachel (now Helen Mirren) may have to return to fieldwork after decades of retirement.

The acting is outstanding, especially the three younger performers. Marton Csokas, Sam Worthington and Jessica Chastain display a chemistry that marks them as confederates and sometimes lovers, but never friends. And while there’s nothing wrong with their older counterparts, they aren’t necessarily the best fits for the parts even if Chastain and Mirren had discussions about using similar gestures. They just don’t look enough like their younger ‘selves’ to be effective. In addition, there are several instances in 1997 that strain credibility, especially the long note that Rachel writes even though she has seconds to write it and get out of the hospital room. And she writes it in Russian, no less! Even so, “The Debt” is definitely worth seeing. 9/4/11