The Counterfeiters

The Counterfeiters won the 2008 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and a worthy winner it is indeed. Director Ruzowitzky was previously responsible for the somewhat schlocky horror films Anatomie and its sequel. Here, however, he has written and directed a film which captures a horror of a different nature with a massive moral dilemma underpinning the entire plot, and a refreshingly different take on a much-tackled subject. Areas of obvious divergence from other Holocaust films abound. Firstly the ptotagonist is, at least initially, not a very likeable guy – he’s first and foremost a criminal - and very few issues of a moral nature are likely to deter him from his primary task of surviving. Then we have the depiction of the concentration camp, shown from the perspective of a small group who have got it good, relatively speaking. Because we don’t get the brutality constantly thrust in our faces, when incidents that we typically associate with other concentration camp films occur they are especially affecting and shocking. The head of the operation, Herzog (Devid Striesow) is depicted not as a stereotypical Nazi sadist but rather as a pragmatist who is constantly exhorting his Jewish crew to do a good job in order to save their skins even if it does mean helping their enemies.

This gripping story is based on actual events and the director says that he aimed to give it a documentary feel. Certainly many scenes and incidents feel vividly real and though no movie could dare to claim it replicates what things would have been like in the camps, there are moments of such immediacy, brutality and sadness that we feel as if we’re there.

Most of the story is seen through Sally’s eyes and Karl Markovics’ amazing performance is all the more impressive for the nuanced way in which he lets us see the many facets of his character's situation as on the one hand he actually takes pride in having the opportunity to create his best forgery yet on the other he is aware he is helping the enemy. For me, ultimately it was the moral issues that made me mull over this film long past its conclusion. Does any of us know what we would be capable of if our own survival was at stake? Although its final scene is perhaps a little too anodyne or romantically escapist, superior scripting and complex issues make this one of the best Holocaust films for a long while.

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