Shades
of grey
There
are some superficial similarities between The Counterfeiters
and the benchmark for Holocaust films, Steven Spielberg’s
Schindler’s List (and it’s not just the fact
that both have won Oscars). But where Schindler’s List
set the moral battlelines very clearly, they’re less distinctly
defined in Stefan Rusowitzky’s engrossing and powerful German-language
film.
The Counterfeiters, on its surface, tells
(reasonably accurately) the story of Operation Bernhard, a German
plan hatched during WWII to flood Allied economies with counterfeited
currency. But more specifically, it looks at what a human being
will do to survive in the most extreme circumstances. This engages
the audience in some difficult and often disturbing moral questions.
Our protagonist is Salomon Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics),
a notorious counterfeiter in pre-war Berlin. His activities bring
him a degree of notoriety in the city’s club scene; but
also bring him to the attention of the police, notably Freidrich
Herzog (Devid Striesow). His arrest by Herzog sees the Jewish
Sorowitsch sent to a series of concentration camps; although his
artistic abilities save him on more than one occasion. But in
1941, he’s transferred to Sachsenhausen camp, where he’s
reunited with Herzog, now an SS officer. Herzog has been given
a brief (by Himmler himself, it seems) to produce fake British
and American bank notes. He assembles a team that includes Sorowitsch,
Communist idealist Adolf Burger (August Diehl), the pragmatic
Zilinski (Andreas Schmidt) and the kindly Dr Klinger (August Zirner).
The group is segregated from the general camp population, given
soft beds and special privileges. But they quickly come to realise
that the sooner they crack the British pound and American dollar,
their usefulness to the Nazis will end.
This complex film puts the audience in the shoes
of the inmates, and cleverly navigates the shifting moral sands
their situation entails. The key conflict is between the hard-nosed
Sorowitsch and the idealistic Burger. At times, it seems that
Burger would be quite happy to die at the hands of the Nazis rather
than give up his beliefs. Burger is also constantly pushing Sorowitsch
to sabotage the Nazi operation; but Sorowitsch resists. At times,
it’s difficult to tell whether that resistance is born of
self-preservation or pride (his failed attempts to forge the US
dollar having had him arrested in the first place). But Sorowitsch
– a la Schindler – comes to realise that the operation
is the best way to save the lives of everyone in the group. There's
also a touch of Schindler about the character of Herzog too; although
his true nature is something of a mystery for most of the film.
As
the film takes place almost entirely inside a concentration camp,
you need to be ready for some pretty heavy – not to mention
violent – material. Rusowitzky is pretty restrained about
the more violent elements, but he uses them to maximum effect.
The setting also affects the look of the film, with
drab grey tones dominating. These are offset to some extent by
two bookend sequences that take place on the French Riviera. The
drabness however is appropriate to the subject matter, and actually
works well within the grainy texture of the film (it was shot
on Super 16).
Mathieu Kassovitz lookalike Karl Markovics does
a sterling job in the leading role of Sorowitsch. Although the
character isn’t exactly a likeable rogue, Markovics makes
us care about him. Devid Striesow, achieves something similar
with the complementary role of Herzog. The reasonably large supporting
cast is generally very strong, with August Diehl a particular
stand-out as Burger.
There’s plenty to like and a lot to think
about in The Counterfeiters. I hope the fact it’s
in a foreign language won’t discourage people from seeing
this excellent production. It’s not exactly an easy movie
to watch at times, but it is one of the more compelling films
of the year.
David Edwards
