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Contains strong language and infrequent strong violence
Fight for what you believe in and face certain death – or co-operate with the enemy to save your own skin? Such is the dilemma at the heart of Stefan Ruzowitzky's compelling WWII drama about concentration camp Jews who are spared the gas chamber - in exchange for printing fake money for the Nazis. Known as Operation Bernhard, the Nazi scam, which set out to crush the British and US economies with counterfeit cash, succeeded in forging over £130 million before the end of the war.
Professional forger Salomon Sorowitsch (Markovics) is arrested in Berlin and, with the onset of war, taken to Sachsenhausen to produce counterfeit dollars. His decision to willingly collude with the Nazis is not shared by fellow conspirator Adolf Burger (Diehl), who would rather sabotage the operation than finance the Nazi war effort. Through its lead characters, The Counterfeiters raises questions about the rationality of moral courage in the face of adversity. Salomon appears on the surface to be a cold-hearted man, but his appearance betrays former cruelties which make it impossible not to empathise with him and the quandary in which he finds himself.
"HIGHLIGHTS THE HORRORS OF WAR"
That Ruzowitzky's film is so gripping is partly due to his decision to create a tense thriller rather than get bogged down in grim drama. Yet the director highlights the horrors of war with remarkable subtlety; although the workers are sheltered from seeing the brutality and torture, the screams alone are terrifying. Challenging and thought-provoking, The Counterfeiters is Austria's nomination for next year's Best Foreign Film Oscar – and on this evidence it deserves to win.
The Counterfeiters is out in the UK on 12th October 2007.
Touching, moving and tearjerking are just a few words to describe it
