THE COUNTERFEITERS (DIE FALSCHER)

‘A True Tale of Bogus Bills and Shaky Scruples’

“The Counterfeiters”, an Oscar winner this year for Best Foreign Film, is a powerful piece of film in terms of its story, acting, and theme. The story is grounded in history, since the screenplay is based on the book “The Devil`s Workshop” by Adolf Burger. Salomon ‘Sally” Sorowitsch, the anti-hero master forger here, is commissioned by the Nazis (in 1944 at Sachsenhausen concentration camp) to counterfeit currency with the goal of flooding the western economies with phony bills so that they might sabotage those markets. Sally recruits some experts from the talent pool, such as printers, chemists, graphic artists, and typographers for this brazen Nazi enterprise. The better part of this drama is played out within the cold, gray confines of this “work camp”, just outside of Berlin. Three standout scenes that I must note here are: the presentation of the fake British pounds to Friedrich Herzog (the commander of Sachsenhausen), the ping-pong game that is interrupted by gunfire just over the fence, and the painful liberation of the camp, where the “Operation Bernhard” prisoners are nearly shot by some common populous prisoners.

The understated acting of Karl Markovics as Sally is a study in emotive nuance; his Sorowitsch is shifty and guileful with dodging eyes and an angular face. He wreaks, breaths ‘survival’! An example of this is the way he paints perfect portraits of S.S. officers at Mauthausen (his earlier camp) in order to placate them. Yet at other times he is compassionate and dons a conscience that guides him through his hardships. Other actors offer superb performances as well, such as August Diehl in the role of the idealist Adolf Burger or Devid Striesow as the manipulating commander Friedrich Herzog.

The theme of “The Counterfeiters” is the moral dilemma that Sally finds himself in: “to be or not to be”, in a nutshell. Should he simply appease the Nazis and increase the probability of his survival, or should he defy them for his convictions (if he has any), then in short order be scurried off to the gas chambers? Just such a quandary is the focus of these ninety-eight moisture-brow minutes! My best observation is that Sorowitsch seems as if he is playing both sides of the fence, but favors ‘survival’ over ‘idealism’, in fair measure. I thought of Sir Thomas More in “A Man For All Seasons”, by way of contrast, who makes very different decisions; he is courageous enough to stand up for his beliefs, and refuses to sanction King Henry VIII`s annulment to his queen, Katherine of Aragon. Thus, he loses his head to the axe man for his lofty principles. Sally ‘outlives’ the war and gambles leisurely in Monte Carlo after some very troubling days.