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The Debt is a an effective, if confusing thriller featuring strong performances and a sure directorial hand. It doesn’t completely succeed, but there’s enough great material here to merit a recommendation for rental or purchase, depending on the viewers’ interest in the cast or in director John Madden’s work. The Blu-ray provides a solid picture and sound package, along with a thorough commentary by Madden.
DEBT
Studio: Universal/Focus Features/Miramax/Marv Films
Release Year: 2010
Length: 1 hr 54 mins
Genre: Period Thriller/Drama
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
BD Resolution and Codec: 1080p, VC-1 (@ an average 30 mbps)
Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (@ an average 3.6 mbps, up to 5.1 at times), Spanish DTS 5.1, French DTS 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
Film Rating: R (Language and Violence)
Release Date: December 6, 2011
Starring: Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington, Jessica Chastain, Jesper Christensen, Marton Csokas, with Ciaran Hinds and Tom Wilkinson
Based on the film “Ha-Hov” written by Assaf Bernstein & Ido Rosenblum and directed by Assaf Bernstein
Screenplay by: Matthew Vaughn & Jane Goldman and Peter Straughan
Directed by: John Madden
Review Rating: 3 ½/5
The Debt is a strong thriller with solid performances. Its goals outreach its grasp, but it’s still one of the most involving films to come out this year. As always, Helen Mirren contributes a strong performance, backed by the rest of the cast, playing the same triangle of characters both in 1997 and in 1966. The core of the film is the mission of three Mossad agents in East Berlin to abduct a Nazi war criminal for trial in Israel. The film plays out how the mission unravels in 1966 and then the 1997 ramifications for the agents. Without getting into spoilers in this paragraph, the film’s focus is the weight of secrets and regret over time. Each of the three main characters is starkly contrasted between their younger counterparts and their older selves, and that’s really the point of the exercise. It doesn’t all completely work. There’s some confusion early on as to which of the younger actors match up with which of the older men, and there are some unfortunately obvious choices in the plotting and dialogue. But the strength of the performances and of John Madden’s clear direction more than carry the day. And a note of appreciation must be made for Thomas Newman’s driving score.
SPOILERS HERE – DO NOT READ THIS UNTIL YOU HAVE SEEN THE FILM: The Debt is actually an adaptation of a 2007 Israeli film following roughly the same plot, only with a budget some 20 times the size of the original. It was actually completed and intended for release in 2010, but did not actually see a theatrical release until this past August, where it briefly appeared and did decent, but unspectacular business. The film starts off with a shocking and brutal suicide in 1997 by David (Ciaran Hinds), a former Mossad agent, an action that tells us that all is far from well with the main characters. From that point, the plot centers on a Mossad mission in the 1960s to grab Vogel, a Nazi war criminal from his new identity/hiding place in East Berlin and return him to Israel for trial and likely execution. The three young agents, Rachel (Jessica Chastain), David (Sam Worthington) and team leader Stefan (Marton Csokas), succeed in abducting Vogel (effectively played by Jesper Christensen) but then botch the escape, so that all four are essentially trapped in an East Berlin apartment until they can find another way to get the man out of the country. And it’s this period in the apartment that is the real foundation of the movie. Over time, Vogel manages to get inside of all of their heads, even deducing that Rachel is pregnant, and that the men are competing for her. The movie does try to have it both ways here – Vogel alternates between being partly sympathetic and being a complete monster, depending on the needs of the scene. And in the earliest scenes of the 1960s portion, it’s initially difficult to figure out which of the young men is playing the younger counterpart of Tom Wilkinson or Ciaran Hinds. Once one gets past that, the movie becomes much clearer (and I’m guessing works a lot better on the second viewing.) The center of the agents’ problem in the 1960s and the 1990s comes when Rachel takes her eye off Vogel during a crucial moment, allowing him to stab her in the face and escape the apartment. And in a very early scene in the movie, we see this attack, and the death of Vogel as Rachel shoots him. Roughly an hour later in the film, the identical scene is repeated, now that we’ve seen the rest of the story, leading to the obvious question of why John Madden chose to spend another few minutes replaying it. Until the audience realizes this is for a reason – the first time was to show us what Rachel and the agents told everyone happened. The second time is to show us what really happened.
MORE SPOILERS: From that point onward, the film’s mystery element gives way to more standard thriller material, albeit with Helen Mirren anchoring the scenes as the 1997 Rachel, trying to clean up the situation after 30 years of secrets and lies. The regret over her actions (and inactions) hangs over Mirren’s face throughout her performance, as it does over the faces of Hinds and Wilkinson (1997 Stefan). Hinds in particular shows this weight, hinting at much more depth than we can see during his brief scenes. (It definitely helps that Mirren worked with both Hinds and Wilkinson on Prime Suspect years ago – there’s a palpable sense of familiarity and history between them onscreen.) There are still some odd moments, however. Stefan’s 1997 condition in a wheelchair is explained with a single throwaway line that feels quite tacked on, and the closing sequence at a hospital is both rushed and more than a little hard to believe. And yet, even in that situation, John Madden plays fair with the audience – the situation may be hard to believe, but it is possible, and Madden strictly observes the rule of playing out an action once you, for example, show the audience a gun or a knife in the early going. In the end, it’s hard to say that the film is a masterpiece of the genre – but it is effective. It’s a solid 2 hours of thriller material, carried by Madden’s direction and by the cast, even when the writing flags. And, again, it has a fine score by Thomas Newman to boot.
The Debt was released on Blu-ray and DVD just over two weeks ago, so it makes ironic sense that this review is being posted during the holiday season... The Blu-ray edition contains high definition picture and audio of the movie and a few extras, including a solid commentary by John Madden. The usual Blu-ray functionality is here, including pocket BLU and BD-Live.
VIDEO QUALITY 4 ½/5
The Debt is presented in a 2.40:1 1080p VC-1 encode that effectively translates the intentions of John Madden and director of photography Ben Davis. The Israel scenes tend to have a blown-out daylight look, which is an intentional contrast with the grays and the blacks of the East Berlin materials. Colors are subdued for much of the film, but when they do appear, they make an intentionally bold statement.
AUDIO QUALITY 4 ½/5
The Debt gets an active English DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix, which uses the surrounds quite a bit more than one would expect, so that cars and atmosphere whizz around the home theater along with Thomas Newman’s score. DTS 5.1 mixes are also available in Spanish and French.
SPECIAL FEATURES 2 ½/5
The Debt comes with very few special features. Primarily, there’s a director’s commentary, which is what gives it the score I’ve shown. There are also three very short featurettes which mostly repeat the same clips and even the same interview quotes between them. There’s also the usual Blu-ray functionality.
Commentary with Director John Madden and Producer Kris Thykier – This commentary is actually a quite thorough one, covering the making of the film and clarifying multiple elements of the story. Madden introduces Thykier but not himself before quickly getting into the meat of the material. SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT: Madden establishes that the sun-drenched Israeli airfield that opens and closes the movie was actually shot in extremely cold conditions by overexposing and using the engine heat of the hero plane to give a different impression. He also clarifies that the character of David was in a mental institution for a period of time between the 1960s and the 1990s, something that might escape some viewers. He and Thykier point out that the actress playing Rachel’s daughter is the only Israeli star in the movie, which is ostensibly about Israeli characters. At the film’s end, Madden points out that the stabbing is actually shown onscreen, making the point that he’s playing fair with the audience and not getting into completely unbelievable territory. And he clarifies that there was an additional moment filmed outside the hospital, showing Rachel succumbing to her injuries, but that this was deemed unnecessary since the story was already over, and it was fairly clear this would be the result.
A Look Inside The Debt (3:17, 1080p) – This quick featurette is half-composed of clips from the movie, intercut with quite interview soundbites with Helen Mirren, John Madden and some other cast members, and a few bits of video from the set. The usual mutual compliments are exchanged.
Every Secret Has a Price: Helen Mirren in The Debt (3:16, 1080p) – This featurette includes a few more soundbites from Helen Mirren and some compliments from John Madden. Tom Wilkinson throws a few compliments her way and notes that he worked with her on Prime Suspect. Mirren in turn notes that her prior work history with Wilkinson and Hinds was a help here. Some of the quotes and many of the clips are recycled from the first featurette.
The Berlin Affair: The Triangle at the Center of The Debt (2:18, 1080p) – This featurette focuses on the 1960s flashback material, but also includes multiple quotes from Helen Mirren, at least one of which is recycled from the earlier featurettes, and the same clips, now on view for the third time. Overall, this is an example of a really frustrating trend with these quick bite featurettes. Considering there is under 10 minutes of total material here, and that nearly half of that is repeated across three pieces, why not just do ONE featurette? Except that it looks better on the packaging to say that there are three bonus features as opposed to a single one…
pocket BLU – The usual pocket BLU functionality is present here.
BD-Live – The usual BD-Live functionality is present, including a few online trailers that play as soon as you put the disc in your internet-connected player.
The movie and the special features are subtitled in English, French and Spanish. The usual pop-up menu is present, along with a complete chapter menu.
IN THE END...
The Debt is a strong movie with good performances and direction outpacing a script that isn’t quite at the same level. It’s not a classic, but it’s a good thriller, and a great opportunity to see Helen Mirren at work, along with a solid supporting performance by Jesper Christensen. Fans of Mirren and of director John Madden should have a rewarding time here. The Blu-ray provides great picture and sound, along with a good commentary by Madden for fans and students. This title is Recommended for Purchase by fans and Rental for more casual viewers.
Kevin Koster
December 23, 2011.
Equipment now in use in this Home Theater:
Panasonic 65” VT30 Plasma 3D HDTV – set at “THX” picture mode
Denon AVR-3311Cl Receiver
Oppo BDP-93 Blu-ray Player
PS3 Player (used for calculation of bitrates for picture and sound)
5 Mirage Speakers (Front Left/Center/Right, Surround Back Left/Right)
2 Sony Speakers (Surround Left/Right – middle of room)
Martin Logan Dynamo 700 Subwoofer
