The Debt ***

A tense and intense but unusual suspense thriller set in two time periods, "The Debt" jumps back from 1997 Israel to a mission in 1966 when three Mossad agents, now older and widely respected, were sent to East Germany to capture a notorious Nazi war criminal. There is clearly something about the adulation they have lived with that doesn't sit right, and a shocking event forces the older Rachel Singer, masterfully played by Helen Mirren, to remember the events in East Berlin as they closed in on their target. The remarkable Jessica Chastain ("The Tree of Life") plays the young Rachel, working with the leader Stephan (Marton Csokas) and David (Sam Worthington). The raw dynamics of the trio affects their work and their lives forever, and the older Rachel must undertake to set things right. Beautifully realized in both time periods, and provocative in its implications, this movie is both a well-crafted work of art and an incitement to debate. It's the kind of serious movie many want, but seldom find.