Academy Award winner Helen Mirren stars as retired secret agent Rachel Singer in John Madden’s espionage thriller THE DEBT, a Focus Features release. Photo credit: Lauri Sparham © 2011 Focus Features

Great Cast and Director Not Enough for This Lack Luster Remake

“The Debt” is a remake of an Israeli film (2007) of the same name that deals with hunting Nazis and bringing them to trial. The new version has its own twist on the plot but basically relays the same message. Set in the ‘60s and segueing to the ‘90s, the film has a unique cast of three people who age before our very eyes − almost 30 years to be exact. The film’s trailers look intriguing and typically anything starring Helen Mirren is a good bet − wrong. The main problem is the film’s script as it has too many flaws, particularly in the ultra confusing plot, which is enough to make your head spin.

To complicate matters further, the film lays a heavy, lifelong guilt trip on the 3 heroes as they fail in their united attempt to kidnap the evil Nazi doctor, Dr. Bernhardt (Jesper Christensen), posing as an OB/GYN in an infertility clinic in Berlin. (The nerve of this guy anyway!) The idea of placing the heavy weight of the heroes’ error as the main focus is gravely misplaced − the Nazi doctor’s deplorable crimes should be the cornerstone.

The ‘60s Mossad agents are Jessica Chastain (“Tree of Life”, 2011), Sam Worthington (“Avatar”, 2010) and Marton Csokas. Together they meet in Berlin to overtake and transport the Nazi doctor, whose crimes are similar to Dr. Mengele (who conducted unimaginable scientific experiments upon Jews during Hitler’s rule). Helen Mirren, Cairan Hinds and Tom Wilkinson play the older agents. A stellar cast to be sure, although the older, seasoned group upstages the younger cast, despite less than equal screen time in comparison.

Directed by John Madden (“Shakespeare in Love”, 1998) the actors’ emotions through much of the film are those of regret, shame and misplaced love, chiefly played out well, with not much entertainment value for the audience.

Another sore spot is the prisoner/guard scenes in which the passive, resistant, vile Dr. Bernhardt (Jesper Christensen) begins to weave his spell upon his captors − one in which a mind game is played out and guess who looses. Again, too much attention is placed on the weaknesses of the good guys and not enough on the atrocities of the monster.

Switching back and forth between the two generations and the different characters is confusing to watch, as is a clearly muddled scene at an abandoned German train station during the kidnapping. We are shown shaky, dark images as a hand held camera attempts to ascertain the debacle of the doctor’s train transfer. The almost amateur filmmaking is a bit alarming for such a seasoned director as the scene clearly needed to be re-shot. Jiggled images of the ground and glaring shots into the pitch-black night do not explain what happened at the train station.

On a positive note, the later sequences in which the older team reunites is powerful, yet a let down as one of the team has serious mental health issues by this point.

Bottom line: Great cast, script too grim to be realistic or enjoyable. A downer any way you slice it.

Sarah Adamson© September 8, 2011