The Counterfeiters.

My Rating

(out of 5 envelopes):

MPAA Rating: R
Runtime: 98 minutes

Genre: Foreign, Drama

Set in World War II, The Counterfeiters is very closely based on the true story of the seldom mentioned German plan Operation Bernhard. The film follows Salomon Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics), a counterfeiting genius, and a group of other Jewish prisoners with skills in art, banking, or printing. They are all brought from various concentration camps to a special section of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. The German’s plan to utilize the talents of this group to counterfeit the British Pound and the American dollar in order to weaken the economies of those countries and help to finance the war. For the prisoners, a moral dilemma haunts them in every action they take. Should they comply with the Nazis to save their own lives or should they silently fight? Watch the trailer at the end of this post.

The story is captivating. The fact that they showed so much of the counterfeiting process without distracting from the other elements of plot left me thoroughly mesmerized. Every detail seems so well thought-out, making the film seem unbelievably realistic, creating a feeling of being there with them. The movie does not attempt to hinder the severity of the atrocities that occurred in concentration camps. Each character was different in his reaction to what was happening in the concentration camp, and it was easy to connect with the way each individual character felt throughout the film. Each actor brings something different to his character. With Sorowitsch, a character with limited dialogue, Karl Markovics’s facial expressions and body language help to express what’s going on inside his mind.

At first I was unsure why they chose to shoot the movie as a flashback of Sorowitsch. By the end of the film it was clear that they chose this style of filming to show the difference in Sorowitsch before and after being at the concentration camp. The utilization of this technique helped to make the film feel whole.

I recommend hitting the “Move To Top Of Queue” on this one, and I would also recommend watching some of the special features on the DVD for a look at Adolf Burger’s role in real story and in making the movie. The film definitely deserved its win for Best Foreign Film in 2008.

Netflix Page for The Counterfeiters