The Debt, directed by John Madden, and starring Helen Mirren, Ciarán Hinds and Tom Wilkinson as Rachel, David and Stephan respectively, charts the tale of three Israeli secret agents. Back in 1965, they were assigned the job of finding the malicious Nazi war criminal known as the Surgeon of Birkenau in order to send him to Israel to face trial. This latter mission failed; however, by 1997 the trio were celebrity figures for their alleged assassination of the surgeon. It was claimed that Rachel successfully shot and killed the Nazi war criminal in his attempt to escape the clutches of the Jewish secret agents. But is this true?
Through a serious of flashbacks, it becomes obvious that the best, most effective way to have kept the Israelis happy was to create the ultimate lie: a false declaration of assassination. But what are the repercussions of this subterfuge thirty years later? The enigma of the secret agents’ ordeal makes for tense viewing. It’s an engaging, enthralling exploration of the difficulties and perils of decision-making  in periods of struggle.

So begins Rachel’s high-pressure expedition: to finally kill off the evil Nazi, to abolish her guilt for having lied to the public for decades and to ensure that her daughter (now a young adult) remains blissfully convinced by the supposed reality of Rachel’s heroism in the 1960s. In the related sequences, Helen Mirren truly shines as the Jewish executor, proving to be both a convincing, innocent mother, and taciturn secret agent. Her tumultuous life is fraught with the need to be moral, yet keep the truth hidden, most often for the same reasons.
If you can cope with the film’s burgeoning running time, you are in for a treat.