July 13, 2012 | 3:49 pm

One Israeli Creation for the Weekend

Posted by Noga Gur-Arieh

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Ha Chov (The Debt), is a 2007 Israeli drama-thriller film directed by Assaf Bernstein, starring Gila Almagor, Neta Garty, Itay Tiran, Oded Teomi, Yuriy Chepurnov, and Oleg Drach.

In the center of the plot there is an Israeli Mossad team who in captured a notorious Nazi doctor who had performed human experimentation in a German extermination camp. When he escapes from them, on the way from Germany to Israel, they report him as being shot in the head and killed during his attempted escape. In the following years, the agents receives numerous accolades for their actions, with none suspecting the truth, but in the late 1990’s, the three, now 60 year old agents, find out he may be alive, and gather once again in attempt of capturing him once and for all . They decide to take the law into their hands by completing their old assignment to eliminate “the Surgeon of Birkenau”, before the big lie will come out to the open.

Three years after the movie’s release in Israel, Hollywood made its own quality version for the film, starring the amazing Helen Mirren. However, there is never anything like the original, and the amazing Israeli cast, which combines the very best of our actors and actresses, tell the most breathtaking story ever told. I watched it in the theater, and I believe that there is still a scratch mark on one of the chairs there, made by yours truly.

The heart-stopping, breath-taking trailer (in English) for the Israeli version

And for those of you who insist on watching the Hollywood version (because honestly, this is a must see Israeli creation, even if it’s not in Hebrew…)