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Moviola > Films > The Counterfeiters
The Counterfeiters (Die Fälscher) (15) 98 mins"It takes a clever man to make money. It takes a genius to stay alive." The incredible true story of Salomon Sorowitsch, counterfeiter extraordinaire. After being interned in a German concentration camp in 1944, Sally is forced to help the Nazis in an organized counterfeit operation set up to destroy the allied economies. It was the biggest counterfeit money scam of all time. Over 130 million pounds sterling was printed, under conditions that couldn't have been more tragic or spectacular. During the last years of the war, as the German Reich saw that the end was near, the authorities decided to produce their own banknotes in the currencies of their major opponents. They hoped to use the duds to flood the enemy economy and fill the empty war coffers. At the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, two barracks were separated from the rest of the camp and the outside world, and transformed into a fully equipped counterfeiter's workshop. "Operation Bernhard" was born. Prisoners were brought to Sachsenhausen from other camps to implement the plan: professional printers, fastidious bank officials and simple craftsmen all became members of the top-secret operation. They had the choice: if they co-operated with the enemy, they had a chance to survive, as first-class prisoners in a "golden cage" with enough to eat and a bed to sleep in. If they sabotaged the operation, a sure death awaited them. For the counterfeiters, it was not only a question of saving their own lives, but also about saving their conscience as well. "This is a fascinating, low-key movie about moral choices and life-and-death decisions made in terrible conditions. Few will emerge from it without considerable respect for its antihero and without asking how they themselves would have acted." Philip French "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 . . . 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." BBC Movies
Last modified: 20-Jun-2008 |
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