The Debt

This is a sort of re-release (on DVD as of May 2011) of an Israeli film made originally in 2007. It has garnered new attention as it is has been remade in America and will star Helen Mirren in the fall as Americans say. It tells the story of three Mossad agents who in 1964, are sent on a mission to capture 'The Surgeon of Birkenau'. He is currently practising as a gynaecologist in Berlin, and is wanted for monstrous experimental operations on Jews during WWII (that is why there is a big Swastika on the front).

The film starts in 2007 when Gila Almagor as Rachel Brener is publishing her account of their mission and is being lauded as a National heroine for her part in bringing Nazis to justice. However, it is all a whopping big lie. Told in flashback we see what really occurred back in 1964 and how despite capturing 'The Surgeon' Max Rainer (Edgar Selge); he manages to play mind games and sow confusion leading to his escape.

They decide that he will now go underground and they may as well say they killed him and got rid of the body. The snag comes when a senile old man in a retirement home in the Ukraine confesses that he is 'The Surgeon of Birkenau' and it gets into the papers. The three agents decide it is time to finish what they should have done over forty years ago.

This is a very well acted and scripted piece of cinema, and I laud Israel for continuing to make good films on limited budgets like 'The Bubble' etc. Also there is no recreation of Birkenau or flash backs to the war, so the Swastika on the artwork is slightly misleading. This is instead a tense thriller that really does carry you along. It did not get much of an airing on first release, so hopefully, with the renewed interest; it may get the attention it deserves.

In Hebrew with some German and Russian the sub titles are fairly accurate (the German and Russian anyway as my Hebrew is non existent) with a run time of just over 90 minutes, this is one you should see before it gets the Hollywood treatment.