Review of 'THE DEBT (2007)

THE DEBT (HA CHOV-החוב) (2007 version)

(Note: this review is about the original Israeli production of the movie, not the 2011 American version. Wikipedia suggests there are significant differences. If anyone sees both versions, leave a note how you would compare them.)

RACHEL, EHUD, and ZVI are three retired agents of the Mossad (the Israeli equivalent of the CIA) whose lives are shattered by a letter so disturbing, one of them, Zvi, kills himself. The message is that MAX RAINER, the Nazi war criminal known as the surgeon of Birkenau is not dead, but is living in a retirement home in the Ukraine and is about to confess his crimes.

A flashback to the 1950s shows Rachel and the other two going to Germany to capture Rainer and bring him to Israel to stand trial for his crimes. Rainer was then working as a gynecologist. Rachel poses as a young woman with infertility problems and, while Rainer is examining her, injects him with an anesthetic. Rachel and the other two then take Rainer to a safe house to await the order to bring him to Israel. For various reasons, the order is delayed. Tension grows in the safe house for two reasons. Feeding the bound Rainer, taking him to the bathroom, and listening to his taunts is tremendously stressful. In addition, sexual tension between the woman and her two male colleagues grows. Rachel, in particular, is distraught.

Rainer gets out of his bonds. The agents return to Israel and report that the Nazi was killed while attempting to flee.

The film returns to the present. Rachel goes to the nursing home to kill Rainer.

I usually avoid spoilers, so I won't tell you the ending. Suffice it to say, it wasn't satisfying, but then, what would be a satisfying ending to a movie about the holocaust?

The movie is in Hebrew and German.  The subtitles are not completely accurate, but they are adequate.

The characters grab your interest, and the tension is palpable. The Nazi's repeated 'You Jews know only one thing - how to die' gets my pulse racing, though maybe not in a good way. As a movie, it's well worth seeing. As a workout movie, I give it ++++ - it will get your pulse up to a run.

Review of 'EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED'

EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED:

This movie is about three people on a search. Jonathan is a young American who makes a pilgrimage to the Ukraine to find the woman, Augustine, who helped his grandfather come to the United States and thus saved him from the Nazis. Jonathan is also an obsessive 'collector' who puts into little plastic bags items as varied as a piece of boiled potato and a container of shampoo snitched from the restroom of a train. Alex, his Ukrainian translator, doesn't quite understand idiomatic English and, for example, speaks of how women want to 'be carnal' with him because of his 'premium penis.' Alex's grandfather is their driver and insists on taking Sammy Davis Jr. Jr., his 'seeing eye bitch' because, insists the grandfather, he is blind (!)

The three drive through the Ukrainian countryside looking for the town where Augustine lived. Between Alex's malapropisms, Jonathan's obsessions, and the misunderstanding each has of the other's culture, I laughed out loud throughout the first half of the movie.

But the shadow of the Holocaust permeates the tale, and the grandfather's casual but repeated anti-Semitic comments accentuate the history behind the movie. Was this ridiculous old man a Nazi murderer? When they find Augustine's town, the film becomes serious, and memories of the Holocaust assume center stage.

Though I generally avoid Holocaust themed movies, this one was gripping. Non-Jews might not be as enthralled. The movie has a fair amount of symbolism and raises several unanswered questions, but instead of feeling frustrated, I went to the web to see how other people understood the ambivalences.

The music was lively and enjoyable, and the characters, in spite of their idiosyncrasies, are realistic and interesting. 

This is a well crafted film which I recommend on its cinematic merits.  However, it didn't do that much for my pulse, so I rate it only at +++ - it will get your pulse up to a jog.