The Debt

The Debt tells the story of three Mossad agents, and their mission to bring a Nazi war criminal out of East Berlin and to Israel for justice. Taking place both in 1965 and 1997, we see the events of the mission, as well as the fallout for the agents 30 years later as result of those events.  The cast is impressive, Helen Mirren, Ciaran Hinds and Tom Wilkinson play the agents in 1997, and they do an fine job of looking world weary and beaten down by the pressure of the secrets they keep.  But it is the scenes set in 1965 that truly bring the film alive.  The agents in their youth are played by Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington and Marton Csokas, and their scenes practically vibrate with all the tension and anxiety of inexperienced field officers in over their heads.  The man they are sent to capture is played by Jesper Christensen with a casual malice and lack of fear, and we watch as the agents become captives of a situation spiraling out of control.  They grow moe and more brittle, haunted by unspoken personal demons as well as the man they have been hunting, and the final fracture is the secret they spend the next 30 years trying to forget.

I loved the movie that took place in 1965.  As can be expected, the mission naturally lends itself to more excitement and tension, propelling the story along because we can't wait to figure out what really happened.  But the scenes set in 1997 should have been riveting as well.  Three people, who have suffered their regrets differently for all these years, struggling with heavy secrets and the question of justice and redemption as they grow older, are characters ripe for exploration and drama.  And yet I felt the modern portion of the movie fell flat, not enough ambivalence, or regret was communicated, and the ending itself bordered on preposterous.  I appreciate what the filmmakers were trying to do, but I wish they had simply made a movie about the mission itself and given the three newcomers even more time to shine.

The Debt 1hr 53 min  R

Warrior

A lot of people probably aren't going to be interested in seeing Warrior because of the basic premise - two brothers training and fighting in a mixed martial arts tournament.  One is an ex-marine war hero, the other a physics teacher father of two.  Both are desperate, angry, damaged men with painful pasts and family history.  And while the focus is on the tournament, and the fighting, the movie is neither glorifying nor glossing over the brutality of the sport.

And the beauty of the movie is that all of the training, and fighting are the only way these two men know how to survive.  Tom Hardy plays Tommy Conlon, the ex-marine younger brother who is carrying around so much anger and resentment that you can see getting in the ring is the only thing keeping him from burning to a cinder on his rage.  Hardy barely speaks during the movie, and yet we understand completely the fury and guilt driving his every punch.  Joel Edgerton plays the older brother Brendan Conlon, a retired UFC fighter drawn back in to the ring in a desperate attempt to hold on to his house and the quiet family life he first left it for.  He has the thick facial structure of someone capable of taking any hit thrown his way, but his eyes betray pain and feelings of inadequacy he carries from a childhood playing second fiddle to his brother.  Both brothers (and their father, played by Nick Nolte) are estranged, caught up in a fractured family dynamic with edges still too sharp to smooth over.  The details of the past are rarely mentioned, and yet body language and facial expressions communicate exactly what happened in a way no words could.

Despite previews revealing that the final match is between the brothers, each victory in the tournament is as nail biting and triumphant as if we were unaware of the outcome, and the final bout takes such an emotional toll that the audience feels almost as battered as the fighters.  I expected this movie to be exhilarating and exciting; I didn't expect it to be heartbreaking as well.  If you can stand the violence (there is no overt blood or shattering of bones, but it is still men beating each other senseless) then this is a definite must see.  An expertly crafted story enhanced by acting from two men we will no doubt be seeing a lot in the future.


Warrior 2hrs PG-13

Contagion

The first minutes of Contagion are truly harrowing; we see sick people, out in public, interacting and moving through the population before being found dead. The illness spreads quickly, and as the audience we are given that special advantage of knowing more than the characters in the movie.  We know that the sickness in London and Chicago and Hong Kong and Tokyo are all related, and we know that it is going to spread.  We are treated to numerous shots of hands touching subway railings, and drinking glasses and other innocuous items, knowing that a killer lurks on these surfaces unseen.  And when Gwyneth Paltrow's character dies (not a spoiler - this fact is in the previews) we are caught between sympathizing with Matt Damon's disbelief and shock and the frustration of wanting to shout "your son is sick too!" and the screen.

It is incredibly interesting and tense watching the characters in the movie trying to figure out this disease and fighting against the clock of the rapid spread and the dying.  I've always loved that peculiar sensation of knowing more than the people on screen - it is a sort of delicious anxiety as they travel towards their doom and you, the viewer, can warn them.  But after the initial break out and discovery of the virus, the movie loses a little of it's emotional heft.  The movie focuses on the CDC scientists fighting for containment and to find a vaccination (Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne), a blogger with typical anti-governmental conspiracy who may be using his immense reach to help his audience or for his own personal gain (Jude Law), A WHO worker trying to trace the origin of the disease (Marillon Cotillard), and the husband of the index patient (Matt Damon) who has proven immune, but who is left fighting to keep his daughter from exposure. 

And yet the second half of the film lacks emotional connection.  There are a few scenes depicting the fear and panic of the general population: rioting over limited food supplies and available medicine, but a kidnapping for vaccine subplot goes nowhere, and the scope of the global devastation is offered with numbers and brief shots of deserted city streets littered with garbage.  I'm certainly not suggesting that the filmmakers should have chosen to focus on the gore of mass graves and rampant death, but simply mentioning 25 million dead doesn't even begin to fully represent the actual horror of that type of situation.  There are moments when the hopelessness of fighting an enemy we cannot see and barely understand come through, but all too often the movie seems more like it is in shock itself, with all the attendant muting of emotional resonance.  Everyone seems to be dealing with the situation a little too calmly. Where is the terror?  Where is the grief?

All that said, this movie is enjoyable, provided you aren't already a germaphobe, and it has a cast to die for.  Definitely recommended viewing, although you may want to watch it at home with a year's worth of canned goods and hand sanitizer.

Contagion 1hr 45 min PG-13

fun fact: Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow's house in the movie is not in suburban Minneapolis, but actually suburban Chicago, a block away from my parents'.  You better believe that I was totally jealous that my mom was that close to all the action instead of me.  She didn't even hide in the bushes and try and get any photos!