The Counterfeiters
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: February 22, 2008
7.9
USER SCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 45 Ratings
USER RATING DISTRIBUTION
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36
Mixed:
9
Negative:
0
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User Reviews

User scoreBy dateMost helpful
8
ChadS.Mar 29, 2008
A "mercy f***"; it's the first bit of English that an Auschwitz survivor named Meyer Maslow learned when he first immigrated to the states, in novelist Francine Prose's "A Changed Man". Maslow, the leader of an Amnesty A "mercy f***"; it's the first bit of English that an Auschwitz survivor named Meyer Maslow learned when he first immigrated to the states, in novelist Francine Prose's "A Changed Man". Maslow, the leader of an Amnesty International-type organization, used the holocaust for sex with college coeds when he taught at an American university. Concentration camps and post-war sex collude in "Die Falscher"(American title: "The Counterfeiters"), too, as a hooker waives her services rendered charge after she sees the identifying markings on Salomon Sorowitsch's arms that denote the Russian's first-hand experience with crematoriums and other Nazi iconography. Maslow, for all we know(Prose keeps her novel in the present), could've been a Nazi collaborator like Sorowitsch(Karl Markovics), who insists that the prostitute take the money, because the counterfeiter knows he doesn't deserve a mercy f***. Like "Schindler's List", a war profiteer(August Diehl as Adolf Burger) incidentally saves the lives of a few Jews by putting them to work, but unlike the Steven Spielberg film, there are no clear-cut heroes to put a face on Operation Bernhard. Salomon is like the marathon runner who walks throughout the race, but scores the free t-shirt, nevertheless. Salomon was "there", without really being there, which makes "Die Falscher" unique from other movies about the forced labor camps. This time around, the morally compromised only goes through the motions of expelling his bumpy past. Listen closely to what Salomon tells the whore after his self-abnegating exorcism.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
10
FantasyMar 1, 2008
Excellent! Most worthy of the praise and honors it ireceived.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
5
RolandB.May 12, 2008
note to entertainment weekly: doesn't take sides....? guessed we watched a different movie. personally i thought this was your brand name holocaust movie with all the tricks we are used to implemented to manipulate us and make us sad note to entertainment weekly: doesn't take sides....? guessed we watched a different movie. personally i thought this was your brand name holocaust movie with all the tricks we are used to implemented to manipulate us and make us sad without offering anything innovative or new to say about the already well explored subject.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
8
JayH.Aug 2, 2008
Amazing story, very well directed with an excellent cast. Fine attention to period detail. Moving as well as disturbing. The writing is first rate. Very fascinating, always interesting.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
10
SusanM.Apr 13, 2008
This movie was incredibly well-done. It's clearly better when Europeans make WWII films - they do it much better than Hollywood.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
6
MarcK.Apr 14, 2008
Nothing new. Doesn't break any new ground. Rather predictable. If you've seen "Schindler's List" or "The Pianist," you've seen this one.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
10
MikeD.May 24, 2008
Riveting from start to finish. I thought other foreign-film Oscar nominees were worthy of winning and was surprised to see this one win, but that was before I had seen it. It deserves the Oscar, and your $10 to see it.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
10
JayW.Feb 23, 2008
A work of art with a superb ensemble cast, economically possible only in foreign cinema.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
8
DennisB.Feb 23, 2008
Well-written, with realistic, nuanced performances helped by a story whose shadings of right and wrong hold your interest from beginning to end. Not as emotionally powerful as Schindler's List, but worth seeing just the same. Makes you Well-written, with realistic, nuanced performances helped by a story whose shadings of right and wrong hold your interest from beginning to end. Not as emotionally powerful as Schindler's List, but worth seeing just the same. Makes you wonder how you would have behaved in the same situation.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
8
ERG1008Sep 17, 2010
Austrian film about Saloman Sorowitsch, a Jewish counterfeiter who was spared the concentration camps in WWII to run a fake currency production for the Nazis.
Moving, disturbing & great performances from Karl Markovics in the lead & MartinAustrian film about Saloman Sorowitsch, a Jewish counterfeiter who was spared the concentration camps in WWII to run a fake currency production for the Nazis.
Moving, disturbing & great performances from Karl Markovics in the lead & Martin Brambach who gives Ralph Fiennes's Amon Goeth a run for his money as the thoroughly unpleasant Holst.
Definitely worth a watch.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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9
Nesbitt10Feb 10, 2013
Cooperating with the enemy has been explored in other holocaust films such as "Kapo" and "The Grey Zone", but the struggle between survival and conscience has rarely been more clearly drawn than in "The Counterfeiters"-- Oscar winner for BestCooperating with the enemy has been explored in other holocaust films such as "Kapo" and "The Grey Zone", but the struggle between survival and conscience has rarely been more clearly drawn than in "The Counterfeiters"-- Oscar winner for Best Foreign Film (2008). Based on the memoir "The Devil's Workshop" by Adolf Burger, one of the survivors of the program, "The Counterfeiters" is the story of Operation Bernhard, a little known World War II program engineered by the Nazis to use Jewish prisoners to subvert the currencies of the U.S. and the U.K through forgery. One of the biggest scams of the war, the counterfeiting operation printed over 130 million pounds sterling in its attempt to destabilize the allied cause and help the sinking German economy.
"The Counterfeiters" tells the true story of a group of Jewish prisoners who were recruited from other camps for such a career--much against their wishes, if not for the threat of death. Being skilled craftsmen in their own right, they are all brought together, and realize that so long as they deliver the counterfeit bills to their captives, they'll be spared their lives. Boastful, talented Russian-Jewish counterfeiter Salomon Sorowitsch is sent to the Sachenhausen concentration camp to orchestrate the operation, and forced to deal with a psychopathic guard named Holst (Martin Brambach), who only wants results. At first Salomon has no issues helping the Nazi's for comfortable conditions for himself and staff, but over time it begins to take it's toll. He is torn between his determination to stay alive with the knowledge that producing the perfect American dollar will affect the lives of his fellow workers, as well as undermine the entire Allied cause.
"The Counterfeiters" differs from other films involving the Holocaust in that the emphasis is on the personal moral choices that are made--rather than the overall horror and despair. The two barracks of Jews working on the project are kept in what they call a "golden cage," in which they have enough to eat, beds with clean linen, and piped-in opera music to drown out the sounds of the murders committed on the other side of their thin plywood walls. The prisoners' dilemma over whether to assist the Germans and thereby ensure their continued survival is the heart of the movie, which keeps the focus on moral imperatives rather than the physical ravages of the camps. Ruzowitzky's film is so gripping because his is able to simulate the daily horror's of these men with remarkable subtlety; although the workers are sheltered from seeing the brutality and torture, the screams alone are terrifying. Karl Markovics gives a phenomenal, profound performance and his disturbing moral ambiguity is a the heart of this incredible true story. Stefan Ruzowitzy adapted the book by Adolf Burger, one of the protagonist's fellow prisoners (Diehl). Ruzowitzky's script is beautifully constructed, and to his credit, does not take a position on the internal debate, but gives the viewer enough leeway to question what they would have done in similar circumstances.… Expand
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6
FilipeNetoMay 19, 2021
This film addresses a real situation that happened in the Nazi concentration camps during World War II: wishing to flood the Allies' economy with counterfeit notes and thus destroy their financial systems, the Germans decide to forciblyThis film addresses a real situation that happened in the Nazi concentration camps during World War II: wishing to flood the Allies' economy with counterfeit notes and thus destroy their financial systems, the Germans decide to forcibly recruit the best Jewish counterfeit experts , led by Solomon Sorowitsch, one of the best counterfeiters that Germany had at the time. The film shows the group's efforts to comply with the demands of its captors, while trying to stay alive and boycott German plans.

The film is truly well done and addresses a story that few know and deserved to pass to the cinema. Stefan Ruzowitzky's direction does very well with his work but fails to convey emotion to a film that, without a sense of danger and a certain fear, looks very much like a dramatization for documentary. In fact, the film is not able to make us feel the danger that the characters are in, and it explores very little the whole surreal situation in which this group of prisoners finds themselves: they may be no more than a group of prisoners, but the Reich needs them.

The cast does what it needs to do, but I didn't feel that it really wanted to go any further. Karl Markovics is the actor who most stands out for the centrality of his character, but he was not able to surprise, in a character who is capable of being really rude, arrogant and very little empathic. August Diehl also has a central character in the plot and works well on paper and shows some very welcome feeling.

Technically, it is a discreet film, betting on building a good scenario and using a set of costumes very well done to be able to recreate the atmosphere in the fields. It also has a regular cinematography, which fulfills its role well, but does not go beyond what is required, and good effects.… Expand
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9
geewahFeb 2, 2022
A powerful movie the looks at the moral ambiguity of survival in the concentration camps of WWII.
One of 2008's best movies.
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