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Think "The Pianist"
meets "Downfall"...
Stefan Ruzowitzky's "The Counterfeiters"
tells the quietly rebellious true story of
more than a dozen WWII prisoners who escaped
the terror of concentrations camps because
of their unique skill... making money.
A number of printers and artists, led by the
legendary forger, Salomon Sorowitsch (Karl
Markovics), are detained by the Nazis in a
special section of camp. Each of them
assigned a particular task in the mass
forgery of British Pounds and American
Dollars. The plan was to destroy the
economic stability of the opposition by
flooding the market with hundreds of
millions of bank notes, therefore devaluing
the currency.
The film is appropriately bleak in its
depiction of Sorowitsch's desperate
survival. He lives one day at a time.
Consider the scene where he willing admits
that he would rather die a horrific death by
gas tomorrow than take a quick bullet today.
Everything he does, he does to make it
another night.
I liked the way the film transposes from the
frivolity of Sorowitsch's free-spending life
before his arrest, to the minimalist
struggle for any morsel of food once
imprisoned. Without giving anything away,
the film arrives full circle in a poignant
and unexpected way when the war ends.
The film plays with the controversial
notions of individual survival versus the
greater good. Some of the prisoners have
grave misgivings about financing the
stumbling and virtually bankrupt Nazi
regime. They even sabotage their own work to
slow the production of Dollars. However, at
what point do they act on the threats to
their own survival and actually create a
foolproof forgery?
Karl Markovics is reminiscent of Adrian
Brody in his Oscar winning performance from
"The Pianist". His emaciated features and
sullen expression of determined despair is
riveting. Were this film to receive similar
exposure to Polanski's effort, he would
assuredly be considered for the Academy
Awards. Unfortunately, it won't quite get
that level of recognition in the US because
too many are allergic to subtitles.
"The Counterfeiters" is a cold and stark
reminder that people revert to any means in
order to survive -- and yet, somehow, the
desire to do the right thing never leaves,
even under the most extreme circumstances. I
am not sure whether the film achieves
greatness... it feels a little truncated at
only 98 minutes. The true story absolutely
merits more screen time. Nevertheless, this
is a movie that people should seek out on
DVD after the megaplex theater chains pass
it up in favor of something less "thinkified".
©
Written by TC Candler |
Director
Stefan
Ruzowitzky
Cast
Karl
Markovics
Devid Striesow
Martin Brambach
Tilo Prückner
Werner Daehn
Running Time
98m
Rated
PG13
Official
Website
n/a |
