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The Counterfeiters (2007)

Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky

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9 reviews

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From Time Out London

The idea of ‘surviving’ the Holocaust takes on many nuances in Stefan Ruzowitzky’s stark and intriguing evocation of a largely unknown area of Second World War German history: the use of skilled prisoners to create counterfeit currency for Operation Bernhard, a plan to flood the British and American economies with fake cash. Ruzowitzky gives us Salomon Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics), a successful, Jewish forger in the pre-war Berlin of 1936 whose instinct for self-preservation, in peacetime as well as war, is best summed up by his nonchalant attitude to the creeping pogrom: ‘I am me – and the others are the others.’

Hours later, Salomon is arrested, and for the rest of the ’30s and until the end of the war he finds himself putting his skills to a different use, first in Mauthausen and later Sachenshausen. He discovers that sketching Nazi officers brings a reward of better food, and soon his hosts transfer him to the ‘golden cage’, a hot-house of industry in the corner of a camp where uptight ex-bankers and criminals collude in producing dodgy notes in an environment of relative comfort. The film’s core dilemma emerges when the team are on the verge of cracking the dollar: if they continue, will they betray whatever political instincts they have left? And, if they succeed, will they become surplus to requirements and lose their privileges or, worse, be killed?

It’s the latter quandry which highlights some of the film’s curious and daring psychologies. We’re well-versed in Holocaust dramas in which the Nazis and the Jews are treated as separate, homogeneous entities; here, things are more complex. War doesn’t bestow a new personality on Salomon, it simply offers a new context within which this lone gun – his background is strikingly sketchy – must survive. More importantly, Ruzowitzky is aware that not all moral standards can survive the perversity of the Holocaust. As such, we’re invited to observe the behaviour in this studio within the greater theatre of war and rarely to judge, even when it comes to the Nazis. Ruzowitzky handles this perspective to excellent effect: despite our awareness of the Holocaust, we only see what Salomon sees – or, crucially, wants to see – even though we, like him, can hear the sound of gun-shots outside. He directs with urgency, lingering little, employing ample jolt-zooms and dousing his film in a colour palette that takes its cue from the grey stripes of the prisoners’ uniforms.

His meshing of plot with debate is impressive. His film is compelling and clever.

Author: Dave Calhoun

Time Out London Issue 1938: October 10-16 2007

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User reviews of this film

Spellbound said...

Posted on May 10 2008 05:31 Reassuring review by Dave Calhoun. Amazingly only one spelling mistake: quandry for quandary. Will definitely see the film.

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EM said...

Posted on May 03 2008 23:59 An excellent film. It shows the shades of grey in the Holocaust which is so very often depicted as starkly black and white. Considering how few SS personnel were in each concentration camp, the Jews who agreed to work for the Nazis, however unwillingly, were crucial to the successes of the Final Solution and the Nazi war effort. This film gives us a taste of that side of the story that people are understandably reluctant to explore.

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Meg Fraser said...

Posted on Apr 10 2008 19:21 A perfect example of one person willing to give his life for his principles and intergrity yet have no scruples about taking the lives of others with him. The main characters instinct for surrival was stronge, which enabled him to do the work he was told to do. The irony of the story was the character who would not give up his principles and didn't care about the lives of others, saved them all in the end by showing his tatooed number on his arm so the prisoners from the main part of the camp didn't shoot him thus saving them all. A brilliant film and so well done.

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Horace said...

Posted on Dec 30 2007 15:31 How to make a film about the Holocaust that is not sensational, simplistic or sentimental? This film does it by focusing on one small story of survival. It avoids all platitudes. The 'hero' is no saint. The detailed observation is brilliant and the acting performances exemplary The ever-present sense of imminent violence and death is probably more effective than actually showing them, though the film does not shirk a few such scenes. It makes for pretty grim (though a black humour is in evidence from time to time) and totally compelling cinema.

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firehorse said...

Posted on Oct 27 2007 13:58 Tense, emotive and gripping: a film that forces you into the uncomfortable position of compromised survivor and asks you: what would you do in such desperate circumstances. The highly kinetic camera work, subtle intelligent script and intense performances add up to one of the most realistic as well as heart-rending holocaust dramas on film

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dalittlewood said...

Posted on Oct 26 2007 10:04 Not Schindler's list, but a gripping story about moral choices made by amoral people. A story that should be heard to let us know what went on during the war. The film was not too long - a rare commodity these days.

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the lone reviewer said...

Posted on Oct 24 2007 20:32 not a fan of subtitled films, however this one got to me BIG style. in english this film would be superb, however in german it is awesome with every second of my valuable time was put to good use making me put myself in the picture as if I was saloman and trying to just survive, the german brutality in documentary films is horrific, however with this film i felt the evil and brutality as if I was next in line.
truly remarkable.

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lone_rocker said...

Posted on Oct 17 2007 23:59 A tense ride, never knowing whether the next day brings execution or a new 'incentive'. This film puts you in the camp and forces you to think just what your own survivial strategy and morals would be, while conveying the pathos of everyday existence in a place where humans are reduced to garbage. Lighter moments and the introspective mood of the film give space for thought and hope.

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ndeb said...

Posted on Oct 14 2007 00:11 Beautifully made, interesting story, no regrets at all about seeing it, but somehow strangely cold and unengaging... Hard to care about the characters, despite what should have been dramatic and emotional events.

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