| The Debt is a 2010 drama-thriller film directed by John Madden based on a screenplay written by Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman and Peter Straughan. The film is a remake of the 2007 Israeli film of the same name by Assaf Bernstein. It stars Helen Mirren, Ciarán Hinds and Tom Wilkinson. Originally scheduled for a December 2010 release, the release has been rescheduled to August 31 2011. Plot Three former Mossad agents are famous for the 1965 death of Nazi war criminal Dieter Vogel, "The Surgeon of Birkenau," who was (according to the official story) shot by Rachel Singer (played by Helen Mirren, and Jessica Chastain in flashbacks) during an attempt to escape. However, 35 years later, a local paper in a small Ukrainian town publishes an article that the criminal is alive, willing to admit his crimes. When the agents, now in their late 60s, learn this news, they realize that their lie probably comes to light, because only they and Vogel remember how he managed to escape, and how they invented the story of his death. With their reputation on the line, they decide to complete the assignment they once had, and return to find and kill Vogel. Rachel Singer, now a beloved Israeli writer who became famous for her book on the supposed 1965 capture and death of Vogel, is chosen to carry out the assassination if the story that Vogel is alive turns out to be true. The question is whether that story is true, and if it is, will the mission succeed this second time around? Cast Helen Mirren ... |
