The film The Debt, starring Helen Mirren is billed as a "gritty spy thriller." It is a somewhat dark a-typical Hollywood film about three Mossad secret agents whose job it is to track down a very notorious Nazi butcher and bring him to trial.
The film is half the events surrounding the what happened in East Berlin in 1966 when the two men and one woman were in their twenties, and their lives now.
The Debt may well take its name from the debt to society they seek paid by the Nazi. But there was for me a far stronge runderlying themeatic current about the debt to oneself lies play in our lives.
Without being a total spolirer, the three agree to lie about how things played out and that lie effects every aspect of the lives of each of them. One basis his life on justifyying his actions and has some government job, another becomes somewhat of a hero and the third is most tortured in his way.
This one lie, once having been told, has to be kept through repitition and takes a toll not only on careers and marraiges but also on the lives of offspring for generations to come.
Those of us touched by adoption know this all too well. Many lives lives based on lies. Lies about what "family" means...mother...father....son and daughter.........names...bonds. We know the effect on every aspect of our lives and all around us.
The lies we tell when asked how many kids we have. Sometimes it is hard for us to know which number is the true number.
Childless mothers who have but one or two children they never raised, or may not have even gotten to see, but who live on in their hearts and memories forever.
The knot we get in our stomach when asked these simple, every day questions. The shame we feeel deep within our bones. The debt we pay.
If you get a chance I hope you will see this film and let me know if you feel the same way I did about it. Or just share about how lies of adoption have effected you....
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