Reviewed by Anna Krahn
Stars Karl Markovics, August Diehl, Devid Striesow, Martin Brambach,
August Zirner, Veit Stübner, Sebastian Urzendowsky, Andreas Schmidt,
Marie Bäumer, Lenn Kudrjawizki, Arndt Schwering-Sohnrey
Written by Stefan Ruzowitzky, based on the book by Adolf Burger
Certification UK 15 | US R
Runtime 98 minutes
Directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky
Films about certain periods of history always evoke strong emotions. Often they are criticised for trying to rewrite history, over-sentimentality or trivialising certain aspects. But every now and then you’ll get a film which captures that period with perfection while telling a gripping story. This is one of those films.
The Counterfeiters tells the true story of Salomon Sorowitsch, counterfeiter extraordinaire. He agrees to help the Nazis in an organised counterfeit operation to help finance the war effort after being arrested and taken to Sachsenhausen, a German concentration camp in 1944. More than £130 million were printed during “Operation Bernhard”, the biggest counterfeit money scam of all times. Sorowitsch (played by the superb Markovics) and the other printing specialists including the defiant Adolf Burger (played by an equally superb Diehl) are kept away from the other prisoners of the camp in conditions which, in comparison to those in other areas of the camp, are luxurious.
The specialists are given incentives to get the work done and are well fed, with soft beds, background music and even a ping pong table. They are exposed to the other prisoners only indirectly when they find the name tags of the Jews gassed in the new suits they are given, or when they hear the ‘shoe-testing’ squad running in circles till the shoes on their feet fall apart or till they die. The counterfeiters however also face a moral dilemma as they are constantly aware that if they fail they will die. To survive they must help the Nazis but in helping them they are funding the war effort and indirectly adding to the suffering and killing of millions of Jews. The situation the counterfeiters find themselves in, playing ping-pong while behind a wall people are being tortured to death is meant to make the audience consider their own situation. As Ruzowitzky says: “This is no different to the question: is it possible to take an all-inclusive vacation where people are starving to death nearby? Is it possible to enjoy our rich, sheltered lives in the face of all the suffering in the world.”
Ruzowitzky based his screenplay on The Devil’s Workshop by the real Adolf Burger, who at 91 is one of only three surviving members of the 144-strong counterfeiting team. By making the story the focal point the surrounding circumstances become chillingly more real as a backdrop to the frighteningly successful and little-known operation. This is an incredibly powerful film which balances that remarkable story with the suffering of the Holocaust and each characters’ physical and emotional turmoil to absolute perfection. I’m sure I’ve run out of adjectives now, but this is a phenomenal (I knew I had another one in there somewhere) film which should be watched by anyone interested in the period or just looking for a gripping story.