GRADE: A-

The Debt took a long time to reach a level of wide distribution for the masses, and it is one few should miss. The beauty of this film comes from how different it is from mainstream cinema. It takes awhile to pick up and takes even longer to make the audience comfortable with the characters. It also doesn’t fall into the typical fast paced bombardment of images our music video culture is used to. All of this is shown five minutes in as the camera follows an unknown man through the bustling city streets in one long beautiful uninterrupted shot. This shot and the opening silhouetted sequence should be gratifying for anyone who studies the art of film.

This film is historical fiction and tells the story of a trio of Mossad operatives in the 1960′s hunting down Nazi war criminals after WWII. The team hunts and locates a notorious Nazi doctor known as the Surgeon of Birkenau, a man who experimented, killed, and disfigured thousands of innocent Jews. The team is charged with bringing the doctor to stand trial — but getting the doctor out of the fortified, Communist-run East Germany proves to be nearly impossible. This means holding the twisted venom-tongued doctor captive until they can find a way out.

The story plays out in present day with aged versions of the characters and in the past through their memories. The protagonist is a woman named Rachel played by the wiley veteran Helen Mirren in the present, and the gorgeous and immensely talented Jessica Chastain in the past. The casual movie goer will also recognize Sam Worthington working alongside Chastain and an actor I respect very much, Marton Csokas.

The flaws in this film reside in the script. The characters were developed, but were missing some really important areas of elaboration — like the motivation of each operative. Shallow exposition was given leaving so much to be desired about the characters’ pasts and desires. The Chastain version of Rachel, the one needing the most definition, didn’t even seem to fit at times. She was a Mossad Agent but appeared feeble sometimes and a little too fragile to stand up to this sinister Nazi. If she was supposed to be in over her head, nothing was given to drive that overwhelmed feeling home.

Overall, The Debt is one of my favorite type of movies, historical fiction. John Madden, the director not the football commentator, and his production team were fantastic on the production end — a lot of excellent shots throughout. The Debt featured a stellar cast, a strong story filled with tension, twists and turns, and one evil Nazi that will make your skin crawl.

What Should You Do? Get out and see The Debt while it’s still in theaters.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @matthewdeery