The Counterfeiters

This 2007 Austrian film won an Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film of the year. I can well understand why. Startling, somber and disturbingly haunting, it is based on the true story of a Jewish criminal counterfeiter who was imprisoned by the Nazis. The film is brilliantly directed by Stefan Ruzowitz, who manages to humanize both the prisoners and the Nazis.

Karl Markovics is cast as Salomon Sorowich. We first meet him after the war, visiting an upscale Monte Carlo casino with a briefcase full of American money. There is then a flashback to 1936, when we see him as a successful counterfeiter who, for a fee, specializes in providing foreign passports for those who are trying to get out of Germany. He is arrested and sent to a concentration camp. He manages to survive in awful conditions by drawing flattering portraits of the concentration camp guards. He is so good at it that he is provided with the materials to do portraits of the guards and their families.

This privileged status in the camps comes to an end, however, when he is taken to another concentration camp where he and a select group of prisoners, which includes printers and graphic artists, are forced to produce counterfeit English pounds and American dollars for the Nazis. Here, they are given privileges unknown to other inmates. Their food is good, they sleep on beds with sheets and blankets, and their work conditions mirror those of a real print shop in the outside world. Salomon Sorowich thrives in this atmosphere. However, Aldoph Berger, played by August Diehl, another prisoner who believes in Communist ideals, accuses Sorowich of "selling his soul" and does everything in his power to sabotage the effort. Somehow, the English pound is produced, but the counterfeiting of the American dollar project lags behind. The prisoners all want to stay alive and would like to kill the Communist because no matter how luxurious their treatment, they all know they can be shot at any time. How this all plays out is stuff that high drama is made of. It kept be on the edge of my seat the whole time.

I did some research on this film which was adapted from a memoir of the Communist who, after the war, suffered periods of depression and later committed suicide. Salomon Sorowich, however, escaped to Argentina where he continued his counterfeiting lifestyle by forging works of art.

This is not a film for everyone. It is sad and disturbing. But I do highly recommend it because it is a fine film with great acting, a well-paced storyline, and an extremely thought provoking theme.

"The Counterfeiters" is a deliberately-paced, affecting personal drama about how thorny ethical dilemmas are in real life, and won a deserved Best Foreign Language Film award at the Oscars in 2008. The main character is Salomon Sorowitsch, a Russian Jew who is arrested for counterfeiting in 1939 and sent to a concentration camp. His artistic skill is quickly picked up, however, and he is eventually used in a counterfeiting operation known as Operation Bernhard, a plan to de-stabilize the British economy by flooding it with counterfeit currency. Since Sorowitsch is such a master at counterfeiting, he is able to pull off a perfect re-production of Bank of England notes that pass the inspection of even the highest inspectors. So the SS now turn their counterfeiting operation to the Dollar. Another inmate involved in the counterfeiting operation, Adolf Burger, realizes that they are effectively financing the Nazi war effort, and believes that a massive printing of counterfeit dollars could make a serious difference in the war. Burger begins destroying the negatives, and wants Sorowitsch to sabatoge the whole operation. This puts Sorowitsch in a dilemma- if the Nazis find out about the sabatoge, then all the counterfeiting inmates, who enjoy a comparatively privileged and comfortable life, will be sent to the death camps. If they continue with the operation, they will help the Nazis.

Which is more important- ensuring your own survival, or fighting for a just cause at the possible cost of your life? "The Counterfeiters" shows that such a dilemma is very difficult to resolve in one's day-to-day struggles, especially when great duress and oppression is present. The moral complexity of the movie is stunning. Whether the counterfeiters delaying tactics were what led to the Nazis' downfall or not, they did a very brave thing, and this movie does a great service in bringing their story to the public.

"The Counterfeiter of the Jews" as he is addressed, "Sally Sorowitsch". is arrested on charges of illegal activity and thrown into the Matthausen Concentration Camp. Ah, but what good is he there? The Nazi's , in the waining hours of WW2 realize that "Sally" will benefit their cause best if he is moved to the "cushy camp", Sachsenhausen, and put to work for them doing what he does best, counterfeiting!.First, it is the English Pound and then it is the American dollar that is masterfully "remade". The Nazi's MUST finance their losing efforts by employing the resourceful and "shifty-shady" Sorowitsch to their advantage. But working with him in the camp is also Adolf Burger, a Communist Jew who is not the "hardened and savvy 'Sally'-type" who is the moral compass of the film. "If we do this" suggests Burger, "we prolong the War and are helping them." Sally shrugs and responds "So?" Burger suggests sabotage. This sets up the dilemma presented in this film; do we aid or do we revolt? Both still may mean certain death!

Director Stefan Ruzowitzky, whose previous big score was the bleak The Inheritors, takes Adolf Burger's memoir and creates a dramatic and socially conscious film about complicity and the moral conscience about, in this case, Jews, thrown in to the camps, and their reactions to their situation. This is not so much a Holocaust epic as it is an intimate 90- minute micro look at one certain point of concentration camp history. What this film does well is to clearly present both sides of two Jewish men caught in an impossible situation who examine their options and have to make decisions.

So many other films have preceded "The Counterfeiters" that have presented this same moral dilemma of Concentration Camp inmates who must make similar decisions. Though "The Counterfeiters" is good, other films I would suggest are far superior in developing this same theme: Out of the Ashes, The Grey Zone, and most especially Playing for Time. For reading purposes, I would suggest The Men with the Pink Triangle: the True Life-and-Death Story of Homosexuals in the Nazi Death Camps and The Hiding Place (Deluxe Christian Classics).

The old axiom "do or die" is tested to the limits in all of these books and films. "The Counterfeiters" is but another take on moral conscience vs. complicity and cooperation.

This film won The Academy Award for best foreign language film. You decide this dilemma! Good....not great?

Counterfeiters is a memorable and smart movie that shows us in just ninety minutes, the most brilliant counterfeit operation during the years of WW2. Solomon Sorowitsch is an Jew, expert respect the genuine art of deceitfulness, from simple passports and legal documents until legal money; once he is discovered by Gestapo agents, he will be recruited into a concentration camp to make the gigantic operation in which 132 millions of sterling pounds were produced.

The rest of this brilliant film runs for you. Supported by an agile camerawork, splendid rhythm and outstanding edition it will engage you from start to finish.

A must see!

Oscar-winning (Best Foreign Language Film) "The Counterfeiters" is inspired by true events during World War II. Some of the main characters of the Austrian/German film are based on real persons and one of them Adolf Burger, a Slovak typographer, wrote a memoir "The Devil's Workshop" which became the basis of the film. Burger's book is about "Operation Bernhard," Nazi's secret plans of forging English and American currency. Against the background of one of the largest counterfeiting schemes in history, Director Stefan Ruzowitzky (best known for his medical suspense "Anatomy" starring Franka Potente) has successfully created a tense thriller with powerful moments.

The film centers on Salomon Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics), forger of documents. After being arrested in pre-war Berlin, a Russian Jew Solomon Sorowitsch is sent to a concentration camp. We discover though Salomon is not a heroic figure, he is clever. He learns to survive the horrible conditions of life there by drawing portraits of Nazi officers.

But more drastic change awaits him when he is later put in charge of one secret mission conducted by Nazis code-named "Operation Bernhard" - Salomon and other inmates (mostly Jewish prisoners) are confined in an inner section at Sachsenhausen concentration camp and are ordered to forge British bank notes.

One thing is certain. They must succeed. They also know Nazi officers would not wait long. But to succeed means to prolong the war and some of the fellow counterfeiters are aware of that too. This is where Adolf Burger (brilliant August Diehl) steps in, insisting on sabotage even though the delay could mean their death.

"The Counterfeiters" is not only a gripping thriller; it also poses some questions about what we would and should do in most extreme situation. I only add that in his interview Adolf Burger said (he visited Japan in November 2007) that the episodes about the inmates playing ping pong and singing songs before the Nazi officers are both true.

Perhaps this moral dilemma of Salomon represented by Salomon and Adolf could have been explored more. Some scenes of the film are obviously the results of fictionalizing process on the side of filmmakers who wanted more dramatic moments. The film is certainly flawed, but, supported by unanimously great acting (Karl Markovics as Salomon Sorowitsch is stunning), "The Counterfeiters" is a gripping and fascinating thriller and drama.