The Counterfeiters
Posted by Marc Hodak on April 27, 2008 under Movie reviews | 
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OK, I accidentally took my wife to a Holocaust film. She would have been perfectly happy never to have seen one; she can’t stomach the violence. So, to prevent any similar misunderstandings out there, let’s be clear this is not a heist flick.
Instead, it’s a very well done film about a master counterfeiter, Salomon Sorowitsch, whose particular genius was put to use by the Nazis in a massive, desperate scheme to undermine the Allied economy. The film was “based on a true story” which, of course, means everything in it was made up except for the basic premise. The German’s Operation Bernhard, for real, created a lot of fake money–over 130 million British pounds in small denominations. But, like all good stories, this is mainly about relationships, which are revealed through the emotional and verbal content of the script. This script relied on the recollections of one of the survivors, Adolph Burger.
In the end, the interactions are stylized and organized in a sensible and powerful manner. That’s probably the best one can do for an event that evokes as much senselessness and powerlessness as the Holocaust. That Burger’s character is neither central nor particularly sympathetic, lends authenticity to the author’s recollections. Burger was willing to sacrifice himself and his fellow prisoners to deny the Germans the fruits of their talent, while Sorowitsch stood against him to preserve their lives for as long as possible. Both goals in a sense represented a blow to their enemy. In the end, via a delicate, somewhat accidental balance of sabotage and achievement, the counterfeiters sufficiently delayed their work so as to preserve their lives, while limiting the amount of cash that the Nazis could use.
The era was beautifully evoked with a photochrom feel and vintage tango music done slow. Sorowitsch was well-acted by Karl Markovics, whose face would do justice to a broken boxer. That the other prisoners and the Nazis were portrayed as two-dimensional characters is not a criticism of the film so much as a commentary of the extreme constraints under which all of these characters existed in that place and time. The film certainly deserved its Oscar. If you and your date can deal with the intensity of institutionalized violence, then you won’t be disappointed.