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Editorial Reviews
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A deft blend of suspense and docudrama, Stefan Ruzowitzky's sixth feature focuses on history's largest counterfeiting operation. Before World War II breaks out, Salomon Sorowitsch (the compact yet steely Karl Markovics), a Russian-born Jew, lives the good life in Berlin. He forges documents, like passports and banknotes, and sketches beautiful women to the romantic strains of tango records. Sorowitsch's dolce vita comes to an end when he's sent to Mauthausen concentration camp. Once Reich officials decide to deploy imprisoned printers, craftsmen, and bank officials to counterfeit foreign currency, they draft Sorowitsch for "Operation Bernhard" and ship him to Sachsenhausen. Though he and his colleagues receive preferential treatment, the threat of execution hangs over their heads at all times. First, they master the pound; then they tackle the American dollar. At this point, communist co-worker Adolf Burger (The Ninth Day's excellent August Diehl) suggests sabotage. As he explains, they're extending the conflict and increasing the death toll, but the entire team will suffer if they fail, even their SS supervisor, Freidrich Herzog (Downfall's Devid Striesow), whose career depends on it. As Jews, however, they stand to lose more than their jobs. Based on Burger's book The Devil's Workshop, Austria's Ruzowitzky (Anatomy) sheds a compassionate light on the guilt and complicity of survivors. Though The Counterfeiters plays more like a prison camp movie than a Holocaust drama--Stalag 17 comes to mind--that doesn't make it any less significant, just less wrenching than some of its counterparts. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Stills from The Counterfeiters (click for larger image)
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Product Description
Winner of the Academy Award® for Best Foreign Language Film, The Counterfeiters tells the true story of Salomon Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics), a swindler who made a name for himself as Berlin's "King of the Counterfeiters." However, his life of women and easy money is cut short when he's arrested and placed in a Nazi concentration camp. With the German army on the verge of bankruptcy, Sorowitsch makes a sobering deal with his captors: in exchange for a comfortable bed, good food and fair treatment, Sorowitsch, along with the other hand-picked specialists, must counterfeit bank notes to fund the Nazi War effort. If he does as they say, he lives another day. If he rebels, he faces the same fate as the rest of the camp's prisoners. But if he lives, will he be able to live with himself?
Customer Reviews
“ Until watching this movie, I had no idea that the largest counterfeiting operation of all time was carried out by prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp. ”
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
66 of 68 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiters) deserves its Oscar as the Best Foreign Film of 2007. Based on a true story and singed with horrifying details of the Nazi treatment of 'detainees' (primarily Jews) during WW II, the inner story of this film is one of resilience and survival against near impossible odds and how one man turned his criminal gifts into a system so impressive that he served as a 'provider' of funds to the financially depleted Third Reich war effort. The story is in itself fascinating enough to hold our interest for the duration of the film, but it is the incredibly ingenious and wily character of Salomon 'Sally' Sorowitsch that burns a space in our minds of how one man survived the concentration camps and in his own way helped fellow Jews to likewise survive the Holocaust.
Salomon 'Sally' Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics) is a brilliant counterfeiter, a Russian Jew so gifted in his ability to forge documents such as passports that he is able to live the 'good life' - money, women, gambling, etc. - until he is arrested by the Nazis and placed in a detention camp Sachsenhausen north of Berlin. His facile mind sees his possible extermination and leads him to make a deal with the Nazis to spare his life (and the lives of his elected doomed accomplices) in return for making counterfeit money (British pounds) so desperately needed to fill the coffers of the dwindling Nazi resources. He and his confreres are afforded comfortable living space, good foods, and other amenities in a special sector of the concentration camp, a place where they can spend their time turning out volumes of money for the Nazis. In this way many of these 'selected' men manage to stay alive until the war is over, but the 'hero' character of Sally Sorowitsch remains an enigma of sorts: his cunning ideas are basically self centered and his focus remains on his own survival and ultimate gratification of yet another successful counterfeit business. In other words, his story leaves a feeling of uneasiness with the viewer - is this a survivor to admire or is this a 'player' whose sense of compassion is marred by his own selfish goals? The viewer is left to decide.
Though Karl Markovics is very strong in the leading role, the supporting cast of some of Germany's finest actors brings a depth of humanity and perception to the major issue the film addresses - both death and survival in the onerous concentration camps of the Nazis. Director/screenwriter Stefan Ruzowitzky deserves kudos for the manner in which he shows both sides of the seminal situation. His cinematographer Benedict Neuenfels manages to capture the lurid light of the confined men and makes the intolerable almost tolerable to watch: the haunting musical score by Marius Ruhland completes the atmosphere. This is a powerful movie on every level, but it is a very disturbing film in many ways. It will make the viewer think - and that is most definitely a strong point of this film. In German with English subtitles. Grady Harp, August 08
Salomon 'Sally' Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics) is a brilliant counterfeiter, a Russian Jew so gifted in his ability to forge documents such as passports that he is able to live the 'good life' - money, women, gambling, etc. - until he is arrested by the Nazis and placed in a detention camp Sachsenhausen north of Berlin. His facile mind sees his possible extermination and leads him to make a deal with the Nazis to spare his life (and the lives of his elected doomed accomplices) in return for making counterfeit money (British pounds) so desperately needed to fill the coffers of the dwindling Nazi resources. He and his confreres are afforded comfortable living space, good foods, and other amenities in a special sector of the concentration camp, a place where they can spend their time turning out volumes of money for the Nazis. In this way many of these 'selected' men manage to stay alive until the war is over, but the 'hero' character of Sally Sorowitsch remains an enigma of sorts: his cunning ideas are basically self centered and his focus remains on his own survival and ultimate gratification of yet another successful counterfeit business. In other words, his story leaves a feeling of uneasiness with the viewer - is this a survivor to admire or is this a 'player' whose sense of compassion is marred by his own selfish goals? The viewer is left to decide.
Though Karl Markovics is very strong in the leading role, the supporting cast of some of Germany's finest actors brings a depth of humanity and perception to the major issue the film addresses - both death and survival in the onerous concentration camps of the Nazis. Director/screenwriter Stefan Ruzowitzky deserves kudos for the manner in which he shows both sides of the seminal situation. His cinematographer Benedict Neuenfels manages to capture the lurid light of the confined men and makes the intolerable almost tolerable to watch: the haunting musical score by Marius Ruhland completes the atmosphere. This is a powerful movie on every level, but it is a very disturbing film in many ways. It will make the viewer think - and that is most definitely a strong point of this film. In German with English subtitles. Grady Harp, August 08
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This 2007 Austrian film won an Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film of the year. I can well understand why. Startling, somber and disturbingly haunting, it is based on the true story of a Jewish criminal counterfeiter who was imprisoned by the Nazis. The film is brilliantly directed by Stefan Ruzowitz, who manages to humanize both the prisoners and the Nazis.
Karl Markovics is cast as Salomon Sorowich. We first meet him after the war, visiting an upscale Monte Carlo casino with a briefcase full of American money. There is then a flashback to 1936, when we see him as a successful counterfeiter who, for a fee, specializes in providing foreign passports for those who are trying to get out of Germany. He is arrested and sent to a concentration camp. He manages to survive in awful conditions by drawing flattering portraits of the concentration camp guards. He is so good at it that he is provided with the materials to do portraits of the guards and their families.
This privileged status in the camps comes to an end, however, when he is taken to another concentration camp where he and a select group of prisoners, which includes printers and graphic artists, are forced to produce counterfeit English pounds and American dollars for the Nazis. Here, they are given privileges unknown to other inmates. Their food is good, they sleep on beds with sheets and blankets, and their work conditions mirror those of a real print shop in the outside world. Salomon Sorowich thrives in this atmosphere. However, Aldoph Berger, played by August Diehl, another prisoner who believes in Communist ideals, accuses Sorowich of "selling his soul" and does everything in his power to sabotage the effort. Somehow, the English pound is produced, but the counterfeiting of the American dollar project lags behind. The prisoners all want to stay alive and would like to kill the Communist because no matter how luxurious their treatment, they all know they can be shot at any time. How this all plays out is stuff that high drama is made of. It kept be on the edge of my seat the whole time.
I did some research on this film which was adapted from a memoir of the Communist who, after the war, suffered periods of depression and later committed suicide. Salomon Sorowich, however, escaped to Argentina where he continued his counterfeiting lifestyle by forging works of art.
This is not a film for everyone. It is sad and disturbing. But I do highly recommend it because it is a fine film with great acting, a well-paced storyline, and an extremely thought provoking theme.
Karl Markovics is cast as Salomon Sorowich. We first meet him after the war, visiting an upscale Monte Carlo casino with a briefcase full of American money. There is then a flashback to 1936, when we see him as a successful counterfeiter who, for a fee, specializes in providing foreign passports for those who are trying to get out of Germany. He is arrested and sent to a concentration camp. He manages to survive in awful conditions by drawing flattering portraits of the concentration camp guards. He is so good at it that he is provided with the materials to do portraits of the guards and their families.
This privileged status in the camps comes to an end, however, when he is taken to another concentration camp where he and a select group of prisoners, which includes printers and graphic artists, are forced to produce counterfeit English pounds and American dollars for the Nazis. Here, they are given privileges unknown to other inmates. Their food is good, they sleep on beds with sheets and blankets, and their work conditions mirror those of a real print shop in the outside world. Salomon Sorowich thrives in this atmosphere. However, Aldoph Berger, played by August Diehl, another prisoner who believes in Communist ideals, accuses Sorowich of "selling his soul" and does everything in his power to sabotage the effort. Somehow, the English pound is produced, but the counterfeiting of the American dollar project lags behind. The prisoners all want to stay alive and would like to kill the Communist because no matter how luxurious their treatment, they all know they can be shot at any time. How this all plays out is stuff that high drama is made of. It kept be on the edge of my seat the whole time.
I did some research on this film which was adapted from a memoir of the Communist who, after the war, suffered periods of depression and later committed suicide. Salomon Sorowich, however, escaped to Argentina where he continued his counterfeiting lifestyle by forging works of art.
This is not a film for everyone. It is sad and disturbing. But I do highly recommend it because it is a fine film with great acting, a well-paced storyline, and an extremely thought provoking theme.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Operation Bernhard was a secret Nazi counterfeit scheme and one of the lesser-known events of WWII. A group of Jewish printers, engravers, graphic artists, and commercial photographers were rounded up and taken to Sachsenhausen where a counterfeiting factory was set up specifically to produce English Pound notes and later, US dollars, with the Nazi goal of flooding and destabilizing Britain's economy. The resulting notes were so expertly manufactured that Nazi spies had them validated by the Bank of England, which confirmed them as authentic. "The Counterfeiters" (Die Fälscher) is based on this true story.
The film opens in Monte Carlo after WWII. Salomon Sorowitsch (Sally) has a case filled with bank notes, which he carelessly spends at a posh hotel. The story flashes back to 1936 Berlin when Sally was a master forgerer and artist with a thriving underground business. He is captured by the Nazi police and taken to a hard labor camp where he cheats death by drawing portraits of SS officers. Five years later, he is moved to a concentration camp, Sachsenhausen, where he is ordered to supervise the production of what amounted to £132M in counterfeit notes.
Sally is a realist and much as he is sickened by the Nazi's atrocities, he works hard at perfecting their product for no other purpose than self-preservation. "One adapts or dies," he says. The group is housed separately from other prisoners and is given sheets, soap, and clothing. Their participation, however, did not guarantee them their lives. To fully grasp the hopelessness, author Lawrence Malkin wrote in his book, "Krueger's Men," an account of this same story: "[The SS planned to keep the operation secret by killing them when the job was done. The prisoners worked with the knowledge that they were marked for death when they had finished their jobs.] From the start, they wondered whether they should stretch out their work and risk execution for sabotage, or perform efficiently and thus hasten their own deaths."
The cries and shots from beyond their barracks can be distinctly heard and the group still suffers occasional beatings and humiliations by the SS. A young idealist and printer, Adolf Burger, whose wife was killed in Auschwitz, incites the group to sabotage the counterfeiting operations, arguing that they are party to the financing of the Nazi war effort. Sally manages to abort Burger's plans, insisting that dying for a principle is worthless. Despite being a swindler, Sally protected his mates as best as he could and refused to betray anyone of them, going so far as to barter with his barracks commandant for medicine for a sick mate and lying to save another's life.
This story survived because Adolf Burger survived. He is 90 years old and still lectures about the Holocaust and Operation Bernhard in Prague, and served as consultant in the film. It does have an incredible level of authenticity to it. Karl Markovics as Sally was just superb. With very little outward emotion, he is able to project the nightmarish life in Sachsenhausen, where one mistake could mean the end of your life. He is clearly torn by his need to survive and the tragedies of his mates--Burger's wife and another's children killed by the Nazis--as well as the killings of prisoners beyond their barracks. His moments of grief are quite touching. The young August Diehl as Burger is excellent, too, and his idealistic stance was an effective contrast to Sally's pragmatism. Two very different men with divergent approaches, but both courageous and inspiring. When the story returns to Monte Carlo, Sally does something unexpected that's a fitting end to the story.
I really think it's a perfect film. There's not a single thing I can find fault with. It's a quality drama about the moral dilemmas prisoners grappled with when faced daily with the prospect of death, and how wrenching these choices were. It certainly deserved its Oscar as best Foreign Language Film in 2007.
DVD extras are: The Making of..., Interview with the director, Adolf Burger's Artifacts, and a Q&A with the director, all worth seeing as they provide an even deeper understanding of the true story of Operation Bernhard (named after the scheme's instigator, SS officer Bernhard Krueger). It's an excellent and compelling story and highly recommended.
(Language: German with English subtitles)
The film opens in Monte Carlo after WWII. Salomon Sorowitsch (Sally) has a case filled with bank notes, which he carelessly spends at a posh hotel. The story flashes back to 1936 Berlin when Sally was a master forgerer and artist with a thriving underground business. He is captured by the Nazi police and taken to a hard labor camp where he cheats death by drawing portraits of SS officers. Five years later, he is moved to a concentration camp, Sachsenhausen, where he is ordered to supervise the production of what amounted to £132M in counterfeit notes.
Sally is a realist and much as he is sickened by the Nazi's atrocities, he works hard at perfecting their product for no other purpose than self-preservation. "One adapts or dies," he says. The group is housed separately from other prisoners and is given sheets, soap, and clothing. Their participation, however, did not guarantee them their lives. To fully grasp the hopelessness, author Lawrence Malkin wrote in his book, "Krueger's Men," an account of this same story: "[The SS planned to keep the operation secret by killing them when the job was done. The prisoners worked with the knowledge that they were marked for death when they had finished their jobs.] From the start, they wondered whether they should stretch out their work and risk execution for sabotage, or perform efficiently and thus hasten their own deaths."
The cries and shots from beyond their barracks can be distinctly heard and the group still suffers occasional beatings and humiliations by the SS. A young idealist and printer, Adolf Burger, whose wife was killed in Auschwitz, incites the group to sabotage the counterfeiting operations, arguing that they are party to the financing of the Nazi war effort. Sally manages to abort Burger's plans, insisting that dying for a principle is worthless. Despite being a swindler, Sally protected his mates as best as he could and refused to betray anyone of them, going so far as to barter with his barracks commandant for medicine for a sick mate and lying to save another's life.
This story survived because Adolf Burger survived. He is 90 years old and still lectures about the Holocaust and Operation Bernhard in Prague, and served as consultant in the film. It does have an incredible level of authenticity to it. Karl Markovics as Sally was just superb. With very little outward emotion, he is able to project the nightmarish life in Sachsenhausen, where one mistake could mean the end of your life. He is clearly torn by his need to survive and the tragedies of his mates--Burger's wife and another's children killed by the Nazis--as well as the killings of prisoners beyond their barracks. His moments of grief are quite touching. The young August Diehl as Burger is excellent, too, and his idealistic stance was an effective contrast to Sally's pragmatism. Two very different men with divergent approaches, but both courageous and inspiring. When the story returns to Monte Carlo, Sally does something unexpected that's a fitting end to the story.
I really think it's a perfect film. There's not a single thing I can find fault with. It's a quality drama about the moral dilemmas prisoners grappled with when faced daily with the prospect of death, and how wrenching these choices were. It certainly deserved its Oscar as best Foreign Language Film in 2007.
DVD extras are: The Making of..., Interview with the director, Adolf Burger's Artifacts, and a Q&A with the director, all worth seeing as they provide an even deeper understanding of the true story of Operation Bernhard (named after the scheme's instigator, SS officer Bernhard Krueger). It's an excellent and compelling story and highly recommended.
(Language: German with English subtitles)
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
very dramatic
after a real story from wwII, in German with english subtitles, however younger ages should not watch this drama
after watching this,order the Movie "Five Fingers"... Read more
after watching this,order the Movie "Five Fingers"... Read more
Published 3 months ago by D. Masch
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stunning...
This in simply an excellent movie, made out of great attention to details and inviting the viewer to read between the many many lines. Read more
Published 5 months ago by R. Galeano Valencia
4.0 out of 5 stars
An interesting true story of fraud.
The Counterfeiters is a co Austrian/German production that is based from a true story starting in Berlin in the late 1930's where a Jewish man who loved the high life and betting... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Malcolm Webster
4.0 out of 5 stars
Review
Product was as described and advertise arrive on time or within the promise arrival time , totally satisfied with my purchase , Price was good
Published 6 months ago by Alex Perez
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Counterfeiters
I first watched this movie on Netflix and revisited it a second time before deciding to purchase the film. This movie was well made and the acting by the whole cast was superb.
Published 8 months ago by Bernadette
5.0 out of 5 stars
Its a pretty good movie.
I liked the movie, had a good storyline and plot to it. Jews during World War 2 struggling to survive the Nazi order. Read more
Published 8 months ago by andres
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Must See!
A wonderful movie, made even more interesting because it is a true story. Very entertaining, good acting, a must see for anyone who likes history about this time period.
Published 9 months ago by S. Stimpson
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very good!
Germany's history in the 20th century is becoming clearer every year with the likes of Goodbye Lenin (2003), Das Boot (1981), Stalingrad (1993), Downfall (2004) and Sophie Scholl... Read more
Published 11 months ago by D Brown
1.0 out of 5 stars
counterfeiters dvd
it is a very good movie. but the problem is,the one i ordered from amazon,cannot be played. some kind of restruction in my area. why do they even sell it. Read more
Published 14 months ago by snakebite
5.0 out of 5 stars
great film
This film was well acted, and very interesting. In the beginning, some of the herky-jerky camera work bugged me, but this didn't last long. Read more
Published 16 months ago by J & M's mom
