The Debt (2010 film)
The Debt is a 2010 remake of the 2007 Israeli thriller film Ha-Hov,[3] directed by John Madden from a screenplay by Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman and Peter Straughan.It stars Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington, Jessica Chastain, Ciarán Hinds, Tom Wilkinson, Marton Csokas and Jesper Christensen.David recognises Stefan (Wilkinson) waiting in another vehicle and unable to face their lie, he commits suicide by stepping in front of an oncoming truck.Stefan, panicking and hoping to avoid humiliation, makes up a story that Rachel shot and killed Vogel when he tried to escape, and they were able to get rid of the body.A generation later, at a dinner celebrating their daughter's book release, Stefan takes Rachel aside to set a meeting to discuss new information he has obtained.Rachel refutes Stefan's explanation, recalling an encounter with David a day before his suicide, in which he revealed his shame about the lie and disclosed that he had spent years unsuccessfully searching the world for Vogel so he could finally be brought to justice.Israeli papers reported that Mirren was "immersing herself" in studies of the Hebrew language, Jewish history, and Holocaust writings, including the life of Simon Wiesenthal while spending time in Israel in 2009 to shoot scenes in the film.The site's consensus states, "Its time-shifting narrative creates distracting casting problems, but ultimately, The Debt is a smart, well-acted entry in a genre that could use more like it.[15]Richard Middleton-Kaplan cited the film as a recent example of a work playing to the myth of Jewish passivity during the Holocaust, because the Mossad agents do not effectively rebut the doctor's claims: Contrasted against presumed Jewish passivity is the doctor’s own resistance as he fights against his captors, kicking, spitting in their faces, laughing at their authority, and ultimately escaping; in short, he does everything that Jews are assumed not to have done.