The Debt

The basis for the 2010 Hollywood remake, this is an intelligent and clever spy thriller, with interesting moral overtones. However, as rarely happens I personally slightly preferred the re- make.

I don't know if it was the acting, the writing or the directorial style, but for whatever reason I found myself both more moved and more chilled by the re-make. To be fair, that could be because I saw the re-make first, so knew the story, but this isn't really based on shocking twists, so I think the newer film simply worked better for me. In particular I found Helen Mirren more affecting than her Israeli counterpart, Gila Almagor.

That said, this is still a strong film, and there are a couple of very powerful scenes between the agents and their Nazi prey that beat out their counterparts in the re-make.. Worth seeing if you're into films enough that seeing two different versions of a good story is fun, not a chore.

Enjoyable Drama that hints to History. In the 60's Nazi's were hunted and Adolph Eichman was brought to Trial and hanged in Israel. Simalrly we see a Group of Young Mossad Agents sent to find the Doctor of Birkenau Aushwitz (Not Treblinka as someone mistakenly wrote) Reminds us of the likes of Josef Mengele. "Rachel Brenner" was one of these Agents in the 1960's who many years later goes again to find Max Reiner. Both Gila Almagor and Neta Garty do the Best parts in this Movie. Neta as the young Rachel and Gila in the present. Another point is how a story is kept secret for so many years. I wondered what other Secret Service stories Mossad or other we do not know about?

Any faithful Israeli moviegoer could have recommended better films for Hollywood to remake. This one was not particularly successful in its home country, but evidently Hollywood likes the idea of Israeli secret agents who are conflicted and vulnerable. Various details here are quite unbelievable: an Israeli secret agent who travels on an assassination mission with an Israeli passport, another who when attacked can think of no better countermove than jumping onto her opponent piggyback, and a straight razor casually in use for everyday shaving in 1964. The movie gets off to a bumpy start with some overly quick and contrived exposition, but it hits its pace when Gila Almagor, one of Israel's most respected veteran actresses, starts doing her stuff. She is joined by equally strong male veterans in small roles, but in the flashbacks to their younger selves the film doesn't hold attention as well, particularly since the two young male actors are not easy to tell apart and maybe because the youngsters need to act in other than their native language. The story is not true, but it recalls a bungled operation in 1973, known as the Lillehammer affair, which we like to think of as an anomaly. In THE DEBT, there is no indication that these half-hearted blunderers aren't your typical Israeli agents.

This 2007 original version of the film currently in the theaters with an entirely new cast and crew and know as THE DEBT is the version written by Ido Rubenstien and writer/director Assaf Bernstein: their story and screen play were the nidus for the current version. This version HA HOV is in Hebrew and German with English subtitles and because this viewer has not seen the current THE DEBT in the theaters it is difficult to compare the two. That really is not a significant matter as HA HOV stands solidly on its own as a brilliant film.

The film opens at a gala party in Israel where Rachel Brenner (Gila Almagor) is being honored again for her role in ending the life of the infamous 'surgeon of Birkenau' who during WW II did heinous experiments on human beings in the camps of Birkinau, including being responsible for the death of Rachel's mother. But news arrives that at all old folks home in the Ukraine that the surgeon is still alive: the three Mossad agents (Rachel - played at the young age by Neta Garty, Zvi - Itay Tiran, and Ehud - Oded Teomi) in 1965, Mossad agents sent to capture the surgeon erroneously allowed him to escape and promising to keep their secret, told the papers that he committed suicide. Rachel, Zvi and Ehud decide they must complete their broken mission and go to the Ukraine, fine the surgeon and kill him. Zvi and Ehud are not up to the task, so it is left to Rachel to finish their mission. The suspenseful hunt and chase is how the mission is accomplished.

The manner in which the film is set into motion is a seamless interchange of the years 1944 during the war and the black and white images of the concentration camps, and 1965 when the three young Mossad agents captured the surgeon (and their interaction with him before his escape) and the present when the now 60ish Rachel carries out her duty. It is chilling, rich in character development, and maintains a degree of tension that is almost unbearable at times. But the other aspect of this film that keeps it form being yet another memoir of the mistreatment of the Jews in WW II is the element of humanity in each of the three Mossad agents as they deal with their task and yet interact with the evil and warped surgeon. This is a very strong film, one that deserves an audience at least equal to those who have seen or will see THE DEBT.

Grady Harp

Another excellent Israeli movie that I quite enjoyed. Was remade a few years later in Hollywood but I still prefer this version. Great movie