Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiters) (The Counterfeiter) poster & wallpaper
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Karl Markovics, August Diehl, Devid Striesow, Martin Brambach, Dolores Chaplin ... see more see more... , August Zirner , Marie Bäumer , Veit Stuebner , Sebastian Urzendowsky , Andreas Schmidt , Tilo Prückner , Lenn Kudrjawitzki , Marian Kalus , Norman Stoffregen , Bernd Raucamp , Gode Benedix , Oliver Kanter , Hans Peter Kortenbruck , Dirk Prinz , Hille Beseler , Erik Jan Rippmann , Tim Breyvogel

Writer/director Stefan Ruzowitzky explores the moral corrosion of Nazi complicity with this tightly wound adaptation of Adolf Burger's fact-based book The Devil's Workshop. Salomon Sorowitsch (Karl Ma... read more read more...rkovics) may be a talented artist at heart, but his desire for wealth has driven him to use his creativity for more nefarious means. Arrested by the police inspector Herzog (Devid Striesow) at the onset of World War II, Sorowitsch is sent to the notorious Mauthausen concentration camp. It's not long before Salomon's thinly veiled opportunism earns him a relatively comfortable position as the camp's resident sketch artist, and five years later he is mysteriously swept away to Sachsenhausen. Upon arriving at the camp, Sorowitsch discovers that Herzog, now a commandant, is attempting to destabilize the economies of the Allies while simultaneously funding the Nazi war machine by assembling a special team of counterfeit artists to create millions in fraudulent pounds and dollars. As the operation gets under way, Sorowitsch finds the efforts of the team continually undermined by unyieldingly idealistic collotype specialist Adolf Burger (August Diehl). In the months that follow, the team wrestles with their consciences as Axis forces are gradually overwhelmed by Allied might. The Counterfeiters won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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121 critics

R, 1 hr. 39 min.

Directed by: Stefan Ruzowitzky

Release Date: February 10, 2007

Keywords: war, camp

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DVD Release Date: August 5, 2008

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Stats: 2,680 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (2,680)

  • fb1216165431
    September 10, 2011
    fb1216165431
    The Counterfeiters is a fictionalized do-or-die tale of survival by a group of talented counterfeiters set World War II Nazi concentration camp. Bold, brave, and provocative new perspective on Operation Bernhard and its role in the Holocaust. Credible cast and performances. A des... read moreerving 2007 Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film winner.
  • emilebond007
    August 4, 2011
    emilebond007
    It may be hard to some to dare say negative things about a movie with such a delicate storyline, but The Counterfeiters has really nothing extraordinary to it and I now seem to be the only one to say it is a terribly overrated movie. The direction, which gives a TV look to the fi... read morelm (it was a great thing for The Pianist; here, it is only making it look cheap), is unfortunately very unsensitive while strong emotions should be what you'd find in a movie that is supposed to be inspiring. While it failed to inspire anything in me, it did manage to protray the horror of the Holocaust but never came close to other great films of the genre. Its qualities are never enough considerable to overcome its tactless and cold portrayal of a journey that was supposed to feel inspiring.
  • blacksheepboy
    June 7, 2010
    blacksheepboy
    A dark, gripping true story that works as a challenging moral exercise on the terrible choices that some were forced to make in order to survive the horrors of the Holocaust. An absorbing film that deserves even more credit for making us sympathize with a not-very-likable anti-hero.
  • 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 moresinner 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 morebecome a turning point of the war
  • 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 moree first rate. 2007 Academy Award Winner for Best Foreign Language Film.
  • bookmunki
    October 17, 2008
    bookmunki
    not just another WWII / Holocaust movie. this film is engrossing, and resplendent with its truthfulness and humanity.
  • shauna1354
    September 10, 2008
    shauna1354
    Tremendous film-making. Die Falscher is an extremely intense film, and no doubt an achievement in cinema. It covers a different angle to your usual holocaust film, and tells a remarkable story that had yet to be told.
    Die Falscher follows the lives of prisoners in a concentrati... read moreon camp forced with the task of counterfeiting for the Nazis.
    Karl Markovics plays a great leading man and very believable as the 'King of Counterfeiters'. August Diehl is also brilliant as the rebellious hero Adolf Burger.
    The script, direction and atmosphere of the film can not be criticised. Die Falscher is a raw, engaging and inspiring piece of cinema that ultimately must not be missed.
  • kiriyamakazou
    August 25, 2008
    kiriyamakazou
    A moral dilemma raises its ugly head as a group of Jews are seduced into working for the Nazis. They can work and save themselves or stall and possibly end the war. It's excellently constructed in the gradual build up. It keeps its focus on what is going on with the counterfeiter... read mores and keeps the atrocities of teh camps at an eerie distance, with only sound and stories influenceing our imaginations. One very moving and traumatic scene has a counterfeiter finding his children's passports in a box of materials from Auschwitz. None of the Jews are villains here and even the Nazis are humanised, given a brief glimpse inside the house of a Nazi officer. The film should also be commended on its matter of fact, this is how it is tone. Exceptional if a little short, it's main focus are the moral decisions and the plot itself which often sacrifices characterization.

View All Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiters) (The Counterfeiter) Reviews

Critic Reviews

Steven Rea
October 18, 2008
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

As writer-director Stefan Ruzowitzky shows, powerfully, affectingly, in The Counterfeiters, the privileges experienced by this small team of Jews and criminals came at a price. Full Review

Roger Moore
April 24, 2008
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

This dark, absorbing thriller is not just a moral exercise in the awful choices faced by those determined to survive history's worst genocide. It invites us to imagine ourselves in the shoes of a not-... Full Review

Jonathan F. Richards
April 13, 2008
Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com

The Counterfeiters, written and directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky, is a morally challenging twist on the long and honorable tradition of forgery movies. Full Review

Adam Bernstein
March 20, 2008
Adam Bernstein, Washington Post

Based on a real-life Nazi operation, the film is a tense drama with performances that elevate the movie to the front rank of films set in concentration camps. Full Review

Kirk Honeycutt
March 14, 2008
Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter

Deft and fascinating handling of a moral quandary in a Nazi concentration camp.

Amy Biancolli
March 14, 2008
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle

Is this the last word on the Holocaust? No. But nothing is. And nothing ever should be. Full Review

Ty Burr
March 7, 2008
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

slick, exciting, emotionally trenchant - well done all around. Full Review

Colin Covert
March 6, 2008
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

There are no simplistic morality lessons or tidy resolutions in The Counterfeiters, but it asks provocative questions. Full Review

Kerry Lengel
March 6, 2008
Kerry Lengel, Arizona Republic

The film does shed light an another facet of Nazi history, and it does it with an attention to the complexity of human nature that makes it worthy of its Oscar win. Full Review

Peter Howell
February 29, 2008
Peter Howell, Toronto Star

A drama based on true historical events that leaves no conscience unchallenged. Full Review

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