What I Watched -- The Debt

K and I went with her friend M to another one of the SLIFF movies on Saturday night. This time, we saw one called The Debt, starring Dame Helen Mirren, the oh-so-eye-pleasing Sam Worthington, Tom Wilkinson, and the beautiful newcomer to the silver screen Jessica Chastain. (And for you LOTR nerds out there, Marton Csokas also stars, but you may know him better as Celeborn.) Wow, that was a linkalicious paragraph.

I shouldn't joke, though, because this movie is deadly serious. It's the story of three Israeli Mossad agents sent to Berlin in the 1960s. Their mission is to capture and bring to Israel for trial the man known as the Surgeon of Birkenau, who is famous for the brutal manipulations he inflicted on Jews in the camp during WWII. They find him, sure enough. But not everything is smooth sailing.

The first thing I noticed about this movie is how well the actors used their faces to express their emotions. At the beginning, for instance, Rachel's (Helen Mirren's) daughter is presenting a book she has written about her mother's adventure in Berlin. When she says how proud she is of her mom, you can tell Rachel is uncomfortable with the praise, but you don't know why. That's what the rest of the movie is for. There are many other similar examples, but I'll stop there to avoid giving away the secrets.

It's pretty clear in this movie who the bad guy is, what he did, and why the Mossad agents are after him. And you totally support them in their mission. They are the good guys. Aren't they? Maybe just one of them is. But which one? Even now that the movie's over and I've had a couple of days to stew about it, I'm still not sure.

Bottom line: awesome movie, but why are film festival movies always depressing? I guess it's that artsy thing.

P.S. I like Sam better with short, dark hair. And firearms.