The Debt (2011)
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Reviews Counted: 169
Fresh: 129 | Rotten: 40
Its time-shifting narrative creates distracting casting problems, but ultimately, The Debt is a smart, well-acted entry in a genre that could use more like it.
Average Rating: 6.7/10
Critic Reviews: 40
Fresh: 28 | Rotten: 12
Its time-shifting narrative creates distracting casting problems, but ultimately, The Debt is a smart, well-acted entry in a genre that could use more like it.
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Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 33,677
Movie Info
The espionage thriller begins in 1997, as shocking news reaches retired Mossad secret agents Rachel (Helen Mirren) and Stephan (Tom Wilkinson) about their former colleague David (Ciarán Hinds). All three have been venerated for decades by their country because of the mission that they undertook back in 1966, when the trio (portrayed, respectively, by Jessica Chastain, Marton Csokas, and Sam Worthington tracked down Nazi war criminal Vogel (Jesper Christensen) in East Berlin. At great risk, and
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Cast
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Helen Mirren
Rachel Singer -
Sam Worthington
Young David -
Jessica Chastain
Young Rachel -
Jesper Christensen
Doktor Bernhardt/Dieter... -
Marton Csokas
Young Stefan, Young Ste... -
Ciarán Hinds
David, David Peretz -
Tom Wilkinson
Stefan, Stephan Gold -
Romi Aboulafia
Sarah Gold -
Tomer Ben David
Sarah's Husband -
Ohev Ben David
Sarah's Son -
Jonathan Uziel
Mossad Agent -
Elana Kivity
Publisher Davenport -
Eli Zohar
Stephan's Driver -
Irén Bordán
Seminar Moderator -
Brigitte Kren
Frau Bernhardt/Nurse -
Nitzan Sharron
Party Guest -
Balint Meran
Man on Tram -
Christian Strassner
Station Guard -
Alexander E. Fennon
Postal Worker -
István Betz
Train Driver -
Alexander Jagsch
Border Guard -
Andras Szurdi
Soldier -
Melinda Korcsog
Young Sarah -
Adar Beck
Party Guest -
Kátya Tompos
Newspaper Receptionist/... -
Jozsef Racz
Katya's Boyfriend -
Istvan Goz
Yuri Titov -
Igor Vovk
Babenko Registrar -
Morris Perry
Ivan Schevchuk -
Erika Szoradi
Babenko Nurse
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The Debt Trailer & Photos
All Critics (170) | Top Critics (40) | Fresh (129) | Rotten (40) | DVD (3)
'The Debt' tackles themes of humanity, revenge and truth so successfully it's hard not to find it powerful - even if it's not the Oscar bait it might have hoped to be.
After a gripping first half, turns into one howler after another. And yet it's still gripping.
There is an awkward, irresoluble tension between the movie's urge to thrill and the weighty pull of the historical obligations that it seeks to assume. How much, to be blunt, should we be enjoying ourselves?
Vogel's introduction, 'This is my hand, and this is the speculum,' may at last have displaced the 'Is it safe?' of Christian Szell--another Mengele stand-in--as the most discomfiting sentence ever uttered by doctor to patient onscreen.
Worthington shows a greater range and vulnerability here than he did in either Avatar or Clash of the Titans, where he mostly just flexed his pecs. He may be a genuine movie star yet.
Rather than focus on the evil of the Nazi villain, it wallows in the collective regret of three Israeli Mossad agents who in 1966 let the bad guy slip away when they had him in their clutches.
A taut, historical thriller about the capture of one of Nazism's most evil.
The Debt may have its flaws, but thanks to some strong performances and gripping moments, it's worth investing in.
What really dazzles here are the action beats - the getaway gone wrong, the shocking moments of violence.
Audiences will see a couple of intended surprises coming but the lack of surprise doesn't detract from how these moments affect the characters and serve the larger story.
If you were looking for a thrilling and immersing story of bravery based on the synopsis of the film, sadly you won't find it here.
Deftly balances genre demands with character-driven drama.
Un complejo thriller de espionaje sobre crímenes contra la humanidad, sacrificios personales, la impunidad que se perpetúa y las diferentes formas de hacer justicia. Muy buen elenco.
This film works both as a suspense thriller and as a character study.
As political thrillers go, The Debt pays off.
A narrative in search of a story
Spy stories can pack a powerful punch if the motive is right. And that is exactly the case in this well-wrought thriller based on 'Ha-Hov,' which opened the 2010 Jewish Film Series in the Quad-Cities. The American version is nearly as compelling.
Palliative Care: The Movie. Now that's entertainment.
There is enough tension to stay engaged for the full running time. That said, I'd skip through 'The Debt' if I ever caught it channel surfing.
Wants to ask deep philosophical questions [but] the protracted ending prevents any of these philosophical darts from sticking.
The moral dilemmas posed by events in the past impacting on the present are dealt with rather superficially, but THE DEBT is really solid entertainment.
A thriller with such powerful and emotive elements as The Debt towers above the everyday crime thriller, drawing on the cinematic oxygen of Nazi atrocities and their legacy
If you like your spy thrillers tense, gripping and meaningful, The Debt should be on the top of your must-see list
The film delivers both as a love story and as an old-fashioned espionage thriller that no amount of implausibility can spoil.
There's nothing to hate about this film, but it is just not interesting enough to warrant its 104-minute running time.
The plot could have great weight but it never makes use of it, while the revelations explored in the past, aren't followed through in the present.
Audience Reviews for The Debt
Super Reviewer
Original thriller storylines have become show stopping, and unfortunately one doesn't come around that often. But this film is an entertaining, well acted and pleasantly witty espionage thriller. It deserves loads of praise for boasting a unique premise however I struggled to see how it was living up to it's full potential. Due to it's confusing narrative The Debt brought about a severe case of self-aggrandizing ambition overdose. It never knows when to cool down and too often switches it's genres aimlessly. It begins as a character drama, then becomes the thriller it wanted to be, then a fish out of water romance and finally a drama again. It's one of those films that never knows when it's on the right track. Consequently various plot holes start to appear among cliched character development and eventually a sense of self indulgence. But what saves it is terrifically outstanding performances from it's solid, talented cast and some very cleverly paced action thrills. Helen Mirren and Jessica Chastain are naturally brilliant despite being on autopilot. Sam Worthington is the weirdest surprise as he actually proves that he can act. Some dull and lifeless forerunner performances make this particular role stand out. After it's confusing start, unexpected plot twists flesh out the suspense, although it could have beneffited as a whole if it the plot was linear. So it's by far and away not a masterpiece as it lacks any outstanding moments that will stay in memory but overall the simplicity of it's intrigue underneath the baggage of it's running time and entirely unnecessary time twists is a really thoughtful and fun thriller idea that I would definitely recommend seeing at least once. I suppose the fact that you can't say much about it goes to prove just how unremarkable it is.
Super Reviewer
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- Doktor Bernhardt/Dieter Vogel: You Jews don't know how to kill. Only how to die.
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- Rachel Singer: We can't go back.
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- Rachel Singer: My name is Rachel Singer. Please publish what you are about to read. In 1965, I was part of a mission to kidnap Dieter Vogel, The Surgeon of Birkenau, and bring him to Israel to stand trial. We have always claimed that Vogel was killed, trying to escape. But this was a lie. A lie I have lived with for thirty years. And now I understand that I must tell the truth.
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- Rachel Singer: God doesn't plant car-bombs.
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- David: What if we could go back. Would it be different?
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- Young Stefan: No matter what, the truth stays in this room.
Discussion Forum
| Topic | Last Post | Replies |
|---|---|---|
| what to really do to the Surgeon | 6 months ago | 3 |
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Foreign Titles
- Eine offene Rechnung (DE)
- The Debt (UK)










Top Critic
The clumsiness of the entire affair is so very natural, which I'm guessing will be removed in the Hollywood version - whether that's a plus or minus remains to be seen.
I'm very intrigued to see how this is handled in Hollywood - for in the right hands you could take the bare bones of the Israeli film and ramp up the tension even further (with better pacing, etc.) **** (on to a review of the 2011 film) ******
Having seen the 2007 source film, I was anxious to see what Hollywood would do with this; and I have to say they stayed pretty close to the source material, both in tone and content, and strayed only to fill out scenes that actually added to the tension (while losing a bit of the claustrophobic feeling of the 3 agents locked inside a dank East Berlin flat).
Helen Mirren is the big name here - and really, she doesn't do much, as so much of the story is a flashback involving her younger self, portrayed well by Jessica Chastain (who seems to be in just about everything in the last two years). Other "oldsters" include Cairan Hinds (who really amounts to nothing more than a cameo) and Tom Wilkinson. Both Mirren and Hinds (in fact just about everyone in the cast) adopt this Jewish accent - which occasionally falls by the wayside.
The story, is a compelling one - Chastain, Sam Worthington (playing the younger Hinds), and Marton Czokas (the young Wilkinson) are sent to East Berlin in 1966, as it is believed that Holocaust butcher Doktor Bernhardt (in a wonderfully studied, and yet kinda creepy performance by Jesper Christenson) is working there as a GYN. The trio hatch an elaborate plan to capture and then transport Bernhardt from Russian controlled East Berlin (before the walls came down), to Israel to stand trial for crimes against humanity (specifically against Jews).
A tight thriller ensues as the trio makes the kidnapping, but then in a rather cool scene that is NOT in the source film, they are unable to make the connection to get their prize out of Russian territory. What ensues is a waiting game that wears on all three, while all the while the Doktor observes and begins to pit one against the other.
As with the source film, if the film would have stopped with the trios' return to Isreal, you would have had a truly fine film - but both films decided to invest in the "debt" part of the calculation, leading in the first film to some almost laughable hide and seek, and in the 2nd to a distasteful bit of 70 and 80 year olds fighting for what's left of their lives. Then, to make matters worse, the Hollywood version throws in a bogus tag ending necessary only as some moral high ground, do the right thing, universe that plays totally false to the rest of the film.
In conclusion, not a bad film - in fact the first half is quite good - but the last bit and some questionable rewriting by the Hollywood factory, make this fair watching, but not a gem.