Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiters) (The Counterfeiter)

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Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiters) (The Counterfeiter)

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Die Fälscher (The Counterfeite...

Karl Markovics, August Diehl, Devid Striesow, Martin Brambach, August Zirner

Towards the end of World War II, the National Socialists forged millions of British pounds in order to weaken the enemy's economy. A counterfeiting plant was set up with prisoners in the concentration...( read more  read more... ) camp in Sachsenhausen.

Id: 10871070

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Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiters) (The Counterfeiter) Recent Reviews
  • SirPant
    October 2, 2009
    SirPant
    An excellent German thriller based on a true story. The cast is fantastic, particularly Markovics, as is the direction. Brilliant considering is was made on a shoe-string. Highly recommended!
  • danperry17
    March 9, 2009
    danperry17
    I would hardly be the first to compare Nazi concentration camps to Hell, but this film brought to mind an interesting way to do so: the notion of contrapasso, from Dante's Divine Comedy (the first volume, Inferno, if that wasn't obvious).

    Quite simply, contrapasso is when the ...( read more)sinner in Hell is punished by having to continually commit his or her sin for eternity... or at least until enough prayers get the spirit out of Hell and into Purgatory and then Paradise.

    The lead character, Sally, is a master counterfeiter, both a criminal and a Jew, and as such he finds himself arrested. The punishment, in a Dantean sense, fits the only one of the two qualifications that is actually a crime: the counterfeiter is doomed to continue counterfeiting.

    When Dante and Virgil reached the very depths of Hell and discovered Satan, it was not fiery, but effectively frozen solid, and though incredibly powerful, all Satan could do was flap his wings. This is what circulated the air in the Inferno, and effectively kept the whole system moving. The point? In a Dantean world view, even the greatest evil has a role to play in God's plan.

    No, I'm not about to defend the Nazis, I hope you didn't stop reading. Like Oskar Schindler, the master counterfeiter Sally is able to keep a staff and thereby save his workers' lives. Much to the chagrin of Burger, another inmate who can't bear the thought of bankrolling the Nazi's war effort, Sally and his crew print forged British Pound and American Dollar notes simply to stay alive. And so, in a larger sense, printing the money - though aiding an evil force - had a benevolent role to play, as it allowed the group to stay alive until the camp was liberated. And Burger, being a deceiver and continually sabotaging the Dollar project just enough to delay them longer, was also a hero despite his seemingly reprehensible actions making him persona non grata by the end.

    (Bit of a spoiler, I know, but Holocaust movies are so depressing already, it's almost unheard of to kill the main character... if you watch a lot of them you generally know that they'll survive.)

    Other Holocaust films have moved me more (Fateless) or had a bigger/better production values (Schindler's List), but this might be the one of the best plots among those that that I've seen: the contradiction is exciting, as you spend the whole film unsure if you want them to "crack the Dollar" or not, as neither succeeding nor failing guarantees survival. I also found it interesting that the counterfeiters were first artists, for some would argue that to attempt to make a film about the Holocaust in and of itself is, like counterfeiting money, a perversion of artistic talent.

    It always blows me away to see a director entertain the notion of what humanity will do when reduced to its basest level of existence, and in this case, it was the flaws of the counterfeiters that made them human, and separated them from the faceless and automatic Nazis.

    A well written and acted film that certainly deserved its Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, one that you can either just watch as a good, straight-forward Holocaust movie, or if you want, think a ton about it - the film lends itself to both approches, and should be on your list.
  • rubystevens
    February 13, 2009
    rubystevens
    intense and well acted ww2 drama about the largest counterfeiting operation of all time, undertaken by the nazis using prisoners in a concentration camp who soon face a moral dilemma...blah blah blah. based on a true story and of interest to history buffs as the plot could have ...( read more)become a turning point of the war
  • Cinema101
    February 10, 2009
    Cinema101
    8/10

    I would've preferred for the suspense to have been a bit more refined but frankly using the past to represent the present is done so well here that I can't really complain. This film says almost as much about the evils of ruthless American style capitalism as it does about ...( read more)the Nazis. The lead, Karl Markovics, isn't brilliant but beyond sufficient, carrying the film when needed on the rare occasion that the screenplay fails. As opposed to most films, I'd love to see an American remake of this, although keeping with the original's subtlety.
  • hobster1
    December 13, 2008
    hobster1
    Powerful drama about a man who must weigh his desire for self preservation and his guilt at aiding Nazi forces. Dramas involving the Holocaust are always difficult to endure and this is no exception, but the moral dilemmas it raises are thought provoking and the performances ar...( read more)e first rate. 2007 Academy Award Winner for Best Foreign Language Film.
  • LisaMJ
    December 6, 2009
    LisaMJ
    Better than expected. Pretty good movie.
  • luiser2gh
    November 24, 2009
    luiser2gh
    Lanza interesantes puntos de vista y nos hace preguntarnos sobre muchas cosas, aun cuando a mi parecer le falto un poco mas de desarrollo, es una muy buena propuesta.-
  • ElCochran90
    November 17, 2009
    ElCochran90
    Die Fälscher is the billionth proof that if you direct either a short film or a feature film that treats the Holocaust of WWII as its main topic, you will win an Oscar. It doesn't matter if it doesn't have anything new to say. It doesn't matter if you, as a director, strongly thi...( read more)nk that making the same "depressing" war films will instantly be a sign of filmmaking success. It doesn't matter if you don't contribute to the development of modern foreign cinema and to the improvement of the genre... you will win! The only thing to be emphasized in Die Fälscher is a very talented leading role. From there, the film strongly indicates a slow downfall within this cinematic branch. It is worth-watching, but WE are already getting tired.

    63/100
  • meldepano
    November 13, 2009
    meldepano
    o.o'' really good. i think movie makers should make more films about jewish "resistence" on World War 2.
  • seanattle74
    November 12, 2009
    seanattle74
    Decent movie which deals with the dark side of war. If you like this genre, it's worth watching.
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