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[FILM REVIEW] The Counterfeiters
4.17.08
THE COUNTERFEITERS
directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky
starring Karl Markovics
By SETH ROGOVOY, editor-in-chief and critic-at-large, BERKSHIRE LIVING Magazine
Don't let the fact that on the surface, this is one of those "ethical dilemma" stories, where people are thrown into the most impossible of situations -- typically the Holocaust, as is the situation here (Sophie's Choice being the one that broke the mold) -- and found to be somewhat wanting in their ethics and morality. While the filmmakers do engage that sort of schematizing among different characters and situations, for the most part this is a fascinating character study of heroism under pressure in the person of Salomon Sorowitsch, a real life, world-class forger played with stunning veracity by Karl Markovics -- off of whom you'll never take your eyes -- and filmed with an appropriately drab beauty by director Stefan Ruzowitzky and cinematographer Benedict Neuenfel. This movie didn't win the Oscar for best foreign language film for no reason.
4/27/2008
Regarding "The Counterfeiters"
Although one is inclined to believe that a movie which has the Holocaust as its backdrop, has a leg up in the voting among the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences....and as a Jew, I think I have what is known as a "free pass" to make this comment, similar to the leeway given a much more talented man than I, Richard Pryor...this movie is well worth seeing if for nothing more than the performance of Karl Markovics,. On that "ethical dilemma" issue, although the forgers were concentration camp inmates who, if successful, would have arguably extended the war and perhaps even changed the outcome, it is not much of a stretch to imagine the unrelenting trauma that must have been part of each minute of every day for these people. The will to live to quite intense and while it may be tempting to fault these people, what they did is certainly understandable under the circumstances.
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