Film Review: Performance of Exemplary Cast Collects on ‘The Debt’

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CHICAGO – Re-imagining, almost re-engaging the evil of the Holocaust has been thoroughly examined in film for years. “The Debt” looks at another angle, that of revenge and how much that revenge can wreak havoc on the truth.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

With both Helen Mirren, who plays the character of Rachel in 1997, and Jessica Chastain, who mirrors her in the Rachel of 1965, there is a mood generated that has a haunting and melancholy personality. This is matched with a frantic and thrilling tale of espionage tinged with the karma of revenge. It is a morality play by way of tinker-tailor-soldier-spy.

Rachel (Helen Mirren) was a covert Israeli intelligence agent in the mid-1960s, and her daughter has just written a book about one of her exploits. Her mission then was to find the so-called ‘Butcher of Birkenau,’ a Nazi doctor (Jesper Christensen) who experimented on female Jewish inmates during the Holocaust in World War II. In a flashback to the past events, set in Communist East Berlin, the young Rachel (Jessica Chastain) goes through the process of the assignment, with agent partners Stephan (Marton Csokas) and David (Sam Worthington).

Back in 1997, it is revealed that Rachel and Stephan (Tom Wilkinson) were married, the parents of the author daughter. While on the book promotion, Rachel is visited by the contemporary David (Clarán Hinds), who expends his guilt regarding elements of what the official report had to say about their former mission. The secrets potentially revealed could be devastating, both to the now older agents and the country that welcomed them back as heroes.

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “The Debt”

Clarán Hinds as Contemporary David and Helen Mirren as Rachel in ‘The Debt’ Photo credit: Laurie Sparham for Focus Features

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “The Debt”