John Peters Reviews: “Fälscher, Die (The counterfeiters)”

Just when you think that there are no more original stories to come out of WWII or the Holocaust, something like ‘The Counterfeiters’ shellshocks you. I’m not the biggest WWII buff, nor do I know every fact, but after seeing this true story of one of the world’s largest counterfeiting ring, I am just amazed at the wealth of stories that the war has produced. I’m not the only one to be in awe of this film, it recently won the Best Foreign Film Oscar.

‘The Counterfeiters’ gathers its power from three elements that work really good together: the camerawork, the pacing, and the acting. Stephan Ruzowitzky, the director and screenwriter, uses that gritty, faux-documentary handheld camera style, which seems to be popping up everywhere nowadays (think the ‘Bourne’ series), but here, with the backdrop of the Holocaust, it creates a mood of desperation and impending terror. The camera whips around the counterfeiting team as they embark on their dubious duty or when a Nazi threatens their well-being. There’s a scene in which Salomon Sorowitsch, an imprisoned Jew is cleaning the restroom area near a toilet when a Nazi comes in to urinate. The Nazi is a lower ranking official that doesn’t understand why his superior has given Salomon certain privileges but is always eager to display his Nazi power of the Jew and in turn allows Salomon to continue working as he urinates on him. He might as well have been peeing on us with the uses of the camerawork and angle. Great stuff.

For a film that is tackling a story during the Holocaust, subtitled, and 110 minutes it moves by quickly. Partly, I think, is the wonderfully story; its tight, precise, and highly engaging. Ruzowitzky knows what he wants, tells his story, and gets out. It sounds like a rush job, but no, it’s just well designed and edited. No fat here; everything has a point and counterpoint.

But nothing from the above would mean anything if it wasn’t for some great acting. Sorowitsch is beautifully played by Karl Markovics. He captures the intensity of a man hell-bent on becoming the best in his craft, and is. The Great War stopped many lives and his was no different. He was successful, brilliant (at crime), and gifted. There’s a complexity happening in Markovics that is wonderful to watch. He has to display initial wide-eyed confusion when he is imprisoned, yet remains totally cool. Even when he comes face to face with the German who captured him, he displays a calm hatred and mutual respect, because he is now a captive of the Nazi Party. He handles the fine line of what his character went through, the duality of life and death at any moment, the weight of lives on his hands, and his own eagerness to crack the dollar and create a template to forge it.

That’s not to say he’s the only one, for every great lead performance you need good secondary performance for that lead to bounce off of and August Diehl as Adolf Burger is equally as wonderful. He plays a Jew with political dreams of upheaval against the Nazis. He is playing a hidden power play against Solomon and the Nazi Herzog. Herzog wants the British pound and then the American dollar forged. Solomon is compliant since his success means his and other Jews’ survival. Burger knows if the pound and especially the dollar are successfully counterfeited, that could decide the war in favor of the Germans and could mean enslavement and death for his fellow Jewish people. It’s a nuanced performance, one that would and maybe should be billed as a lead. His role is crucial and yet while he seems like an internal villain, he has a moral point to make. It is more of a delicate role and handled perfectly by Diehl. Much can be said of the rest of the cast. While there are standout performances, as an ensemble they are all amazing.

‘The Counterfeiters’ really caught me by surprised. I’ve heard of the film, due to its festival and Oscar wins, I’ve read some brief takes of the film and knew it was a WWII themed, but after seeing it, I am glad I knew little about the plot and actual story. While that works for most films, not knowing too much about it, here with its brilliant pacing, acting and direction, I was captivated from frame one to credits. I was breathless and hanging on every line and action, due to the mood and gritty in-your-face camera work. Seek this film out immediately before the summer blockbusters eat it up and it’s forgotten until DVD.