The Counterfeiters: 98 minutes. Rated: MA. Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky. Starring: Karl Markovics, August Diehl, Devid Striesow, Sebastian Urzendowsky
Accounts of World War II concentration camps are invariably horror stories. The horror experienced by the Jewish prisoners at the heart of The Counterfeiters is not so much a horror of the physical world as it is a horror of their own consciences.
The Counterfeiters is based on the true account of Operation Bernhard, where Jewish prisoners with artistic skills or printing experience were put to work by the Nazis to forge British and American currency.
The purpose of the operation was to weaken the US and UK economies by flooding them with the counterfeit currency. Whether or not the bills were also intended to purchase war material is historically debatable. What is clear is that the Jews who worked on Operation Bernhard lived in relative luxury compared with the other prisoners of Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
It is this fact, as much as the prisoners' feeling of complicity in the Nazi war effort, that presents the daily ethical dilemma faced by the characters of The Counterfeiters. That's particularly true of those who had previously experienced Auschwitz — they have escaped the reality of that horror, but not the knowledge that other Jews continued to suffer.
At the heart of the drama is Salomon 'Sally' Sorowitsch (Markovics), a professional counterfeiter whose expertise makes him a pivotal player in the Nazis' counterfeiting operation. Sally is somewhat of an antihero — for the most part he avoids making waves and does his captors' bidding in the name of self-preservation.
It's not that his motives are selfish, per se. More than once he puts his neck on the line in order to protect his fellow prisoners, notably vulnerable young Kolya (Urzendowsky), whom he takes under his wing. It's just that his behaviour is based solely upon their immediate circumstances, rather than any 'bigger picture' principles.
The egalitarian end of the spectrum is upheld by subversive Adolf Burger (Diehl), who survived Auschwitz by playing worker ant for the Nazis but is now beyond such game-playing. He recognises the disruption the participants in Operation Bernhard could cause, if they can set aside concern for self-preservation.
Ironically, Burger comes across as the more selfish character compared with the quietly dignified Sally. That he's willing to risk not only his own life but also those of his unwilling peers