The Debt (2007) vs. The Debt (2010)

I watched the Israeli (earlier) film first than the US version the next night. Although the story is the same, there are some interesting differences.

The US version turned up the suspense and violence over the original version. Suspense came mostly through very ominous background music. Violence, rather oddly, I thought, came mostly with the three young agents practicing combat with each other in the apartment.

The Israeli version was overall quieter and had two specific scenes of violence: when the Nazi slashes Rachel and escapes and secondly when Rachel fights with him 30 years later.

Rachel's scar was remarkably different in the two films: in the Israeli version, the scar was small and on her chin. With makeup it was almost invisible. In the US version, the scar was large and high on the cheekbone of Rachel. It was impossible to hide.

In the Israeli version, the three young agents lived together in Berlin. Rachel needed some comforting at some points, but there was no sexual activity. In the US version, she slept with one of the agents and, unless I misunderstood something, later married him. In the Israeli version, Rachel was not married to an agent. I didn't quite understand the point of having the sexual bit added.

In the original version, the Israeli consulate was supposed to hold a party as a cover for smuggling the Nazi out. In the US remake, first the US had offered to smuggle him out, but later backed out because someone had been killed.

Perhaps the biggest difference was that in the original version, the actors spoke Hebrew, as you might expect Israelis to do, while in the US version, they spoke English. The Nazi prisoner in the Israeli version only spoke German. In the US version, he spoke German, but speaking with Rachel he switched to English almost in the middle of a sentence. Since the Israeli agents in the US version did not speak Hebrew, the Nazi could understand everything they said. In the Israeli version, the agents could speak with each other in front of him without a problem.

There were two other differences I noticed: in the US version there was quite a bit of talk about finally revealing the truth about what had happened when the agents were young. In the Israeli version, that subject never came up. Also, in the final scene, Rachel, though wounded manages to get to the railway station before collapsing (original version), while in the remake, she only makes it a few meters after the fight.

One thing that bothered me about the US version: when Rachel practices combat with the two other agents, both of whom were much larger than her, she did all right. However, when the Nazi, who was considerably older than her and not so large as the agents, tried to get away, she was unsuccessful in fighting back. In the Israel version, the Nazi slashed her and she never got up to fight him.

I also did not understand the casting of a Danish actor to play the German officer. In the Israeli film, he was played by a German actor. While the Danish actor looked like someone's grandfather, the German actor actually did look kind of mean. The Danish actor's German was quite good. The young Rachel's German accent was not very good. (I speak German, though it is not my native language.)

In both versions, I thought the gimmick where the Nazi was given something sharp to escape did not work well. In the Israeli version, after Rachel shaves him, the razor falls on the bathroom floor while she is washing the soap bowl. When he uses the toilet, the Nazi picks up the razor. In Germany, especially in an older apartment, the toilet would be in a separate room, not in the bathroom. In the remake, one of the agent smashes a bowl and the Nazi picks up one of the pieces. How he can pick up a piece while his hands are tied to a pipe behind him is never really explained.

Personally, I liked the Israeli version better, but then I am not part of the target audience for the remake.