Home > Drama >

The Counterfeiters

The Counterfeiters (2007)

February. 22,2008
|
7.5
| Drama War

The story of Jewish counterfeiter Salomon Sorowitsch, who was coerced into assisting the Nazi operation of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp during World War II.

...

Watch Trailer

Cast

Similar titles

Reviews

ThedevilChoose
2008/02/22

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

More
Humaira Grant
2008/02/23

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

More
Hayden Kane
2008/02/24

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

More
Derrick Gibbons
2008/02/25

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

More
Bene Cumb
2008/02/26

The Jewish nation has provided very many talented people; some of them found use of the talent on another side of law - as the counterfeiter Salomon 'Sally' Sorowitsch, the protagonist of Die Fälscher. Imprisoned before the World War II already, he was naturally transferred into a concentration camp, where he and other "graphic" talents survived due to their skills only as they were necessary for Operation Bernard. As there are Jews of different political views, moral values, education, countries of origin etc, tensions are high soon, and apart from their common enemy - Nazis, they will have fights with each other and inside themselves. All this is expressed in a realistic and enrapturing manner (although the ending is too sudden and trivial).During the film, you would also realise how similar totalitarian regimes (incl. the Soviet Union) were, i.e. in handling the sick, putting criminal and political prisoners together etc (btw, the Soviets took over Sachenhausen and used it as a NKVD special camp). Ancient principle of Divide And Rule! was widely used.The cast is very strong and even, beginning with Karl Markovics as Sorowitsch and Devid Striesow as Sturmbannführer Herzog. All the characters are elaborated, reasons for their deeds logically visible.Recommended to all those fond of historical dramas based on true events.

More
Aman Agarwal
2008/02/27

Wow. This film is thrilling, informative, and realistic. The cinematography is brilliant, and the movie effortlessly takes you straight to the '30s.There is so much to say, I'd say it in my blog:legendsonsilver.blogspot.com Overall, there are fantastic performances. The lead actors do justice to their roles. As for the direction, you instantly feel a classic brilliance emanating from the screen. The sets, the performances- everything breathes out of the screen. In this regard, the director does a better job than even Tom Cruise's "Valkyrie" did.

More
CountZero313
2008/02/28

Salomon 'Sally' Sorowitsch is an expert counterfeiter whose luck runs out when he overrules his survival instinct for one more roll in the sack. Unfortunately for him, this is 1930s Germany and he will serve his time in a concentration camp rather than prison. Sally, however, treats them as one and the same, and it is his prison code of working an angle while giving others their place that sees him survive, and flourish, if such a term fits the meagre circumstances.Prison code also means never snitching, and it is this dilemma that will decide his fate.Based on a true story, The Counterfeiters leans more towards prison drama than out-and-out Holocaust movie. The horrors of the camps intrudes only occasionally - that is the guilt-ridden dilemma of these prisoners - and mostly off-screen, as when the god-forsaken 'shoe squad' march next door, and we witness one of them being executed only by virtue of the bullets that ricochet through the fence and endanger the precious forgery team. There is division in the ranks of the Jew forgers, between those who want to survive and those who want to sabotage the war effort. As the war draws to a close, their aims slowly converge.Karl Markovics excels as street-wise habitual criminal Sally. He scoffs at left-wing ideologue Burger, believing his jailbird instincts will get him through this ordeal. The wake-up call comes when he is cleaning the latrine, on his knees, and Hauptscharführer Holst, the camp's chief sadist, let's him know in no uncertain terms how he regards his contribution to the war effort, and indeed his very humanity.The film bookends its opening and closing with Sally in Monaco, having survived the war, ready to enjoy his ill-gotten gains. Needless to say, the monetary gain soon loses its allure.Well acted, technically excellent, The Counterfieters entertains rather than provokes thought, but is worth viewing nonetheless.

More
trimmerb1234
2008/02/29

In many films the dialogue leads, action follows and from this we understand the situation. In The Counterfeiters we understand the situation just as the characters do, share their dilemmas and wait to see how they will react. We get to know their individual characters, their loyalties and urge for self-preservation so fully appreciate their silent struggles with themselves. There is such assured writing and direction that the revelation of the reward for producing enough money to wreck a nation's economy appears to the audience as grotesquely pitiful in its meanness as it might have done to the real life forgers. So too the scene where the master forger with the weight of the world on his mind meets the pretty, innocent and dim Nazi wife who talks to him as if he were her husband's work-colleague brought home for a meal. We experience it as he experiences it. It is all the more involving because it almost entirely lacks violence, gun-play, music or exaggeration. Less is much much more.

More