The Debt: Blu Ray Review

The Debt: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Ent

Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson and Ciaran Hinds star in this stunningly good thriller about three Mossad agents (Rachel, David and Stephan) whose lives are irrevocably joined by their role in an operation in the 1960s.

Mirren is Rachel Singer, whose first operation in 1965 is in East Berlin and is to help capture and smuggle the Surgeon Of Birkenau, a Nazi war criminal whose crimes against the Jews were horrific.

But the mission goes somewhat awry as a love triangle between the three develops - add into that volatile mix the fact their attempt to smuggle the captured criminal out of Berlin sees them all confined to their apartment, and simmering tensions boil over.

The Debt is a thrilling and suspenful film, a tautly directed piece which benefits from a brilliant cast - flashbacks to the 1960s are extremely well acted by younger versions of the main three - including Sam Worthington and a stunning Jessica Chastain who manages to mix steely determination with terrified vulnerability. She's clearly destined for greater things and manages to impress with a combination of the physical and the psychological.

Helen Mirren and Tom Wilkinson are also great in their elder versions of themselves and manage to keep the latter part of this impressively directed puzzle fresh, riveting and exciting.

It may be tough in its story choices, but it's a claustrophobically intelligent piece which grips from beginning to end.

Extras: Brief puff pieces which were clearly extended TV ads and a commentary - very disappointing for a smart film like this.

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