Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Brutal
- tense
- paranoid
- serious
- serious movie night
- historical thriller evening
What critics said
Critics broadly found it to be a smart, well-acted espionage thriller whose time-shifting structure creates some distracting casting issues.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The 1997 storyline about retired agents is interwoven with the 1965 East Berlin mission.
Rachel, Stefan, and David are venerated for their mission while its true costs and unresolved questions return decades later.
The agents' pursuit of Nazi war criminal Dieter Vogel connects espionage tension to continuing memory of Nazi crimes.
The film moves between the celebrated 1965 operation and the unsettling consequences revealed in 1997.
Films like The Debt, and why
Munich
shares a morally complex espionage plot, historical trauma, shifting timelines, and tense revelations
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
shares an intelligent international spy thriller structure, personal costs of covert missions, and competing loyalties
The Constant Gardener
shares a time-spanning thriller about buried wartime crimes, unreliable official narratives, and painful secrets
The Reader
shares a Holocaust-related conspiracy thriller with investigative suspense, moral ambiguity, and historical reckoning
Movie Details
- Director
- John Madden
- Release Date
- 2010-09-30
- Runtime
- 113 min
- Rating
- 6.5 / 10 (989)
Cast
- Helen Mirren
- Tom Wilkinson
- Sam Worthington
- Ciarán Hinds
- Jessica Chastain
- Marton Csokas
- Jesper Christensen
- Romi Aboulafia
- Adar Beck
- Morris Perry
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Debt about?
- Retired Mossad agents confront the dangerous legacy of the East Berlin mission that made them national heroes.
- What is The Debt like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Debt as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The Debt violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in The Debt as brutal.
- What did critics think of The Debt?
- Critics broadly found it to be a smart, well-acted espionage thriller whose time-shifting structure creates some distracting casting issues.
- Which films are like The Debt?
- Films with a similar feel include Munich, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Constant Gardener, and The Reader.
- How long is The Debt?
- The Debt runs 113 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Debt?
- In United States, The Debt is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home.
