The Debt: Helen Mirren and Jessica Chastain star in a stirring espionage thriller about Nazi hunters in the postwar decades. The film is burdened with a clunky narrative structure that takes place in two separate time periods, but it provides provocative food for thought.
- Marjorie Baumgarte
Life, Above All: In a South African town, a grimly determined schoolgirl (Khomotso Manyaka) confronts the toll AIDS is taking on her family and tries to convince her mother (Lerato Mvelase) to seek medical help. This wrenching melodrama is anchored by Manyaka's very sympathetic performance.
- Kenneth Burns
