The E-Sylum:  Volume 11, Number 8, February 24, 2008, Article 41

NEW YORK TIMES MOVIE REVIEW: THE COUNTERFEITERS

[We're been following the making and release of the film
'The Counterfeiters", based on the true story of talented
Nazi concentration camp prisoners forced to counterfeit
British and American currency during WWII.  Arthur Shippee
forwarded this review of the film from The New York Times.
-Editor]

In exchange for their labor Sally and his colleagues are
given extraordinary privileges: civilian clothing, weekly
showers, sheets and pillows on their beds. And this fragile
good fortune provides “The Counterfeiters” with its ethical
center of gravity. The questions Mr. Ruzowitzky poses are
both stark and complicated. How much cooperation with evil
is justified in the name of survival? How can the imperative
to stay alive compete with the obligations to help others,
and to oppose injustice?

Sally, played by a remarkable, hatchet-faced actor with the
striking name Karl Markovics, approaches these conundrums
not with the discipline of a philosopher, but rather with
the self-protective instincts of an outlaw. He does, nonetheless,
adhere to the rudiments of a thief’s code of honor, surveying
every new situation for possible risks and advantages and
refusing, under any circumstances, to squeal on a comrade.

Burger, whose wide brow and upright carriage stand in
Pronounced contrast to Sorowitsch’s darting eyes and spidery
movements, is the film’s designated man of principle. A
left-wing activist, he was imprisoned for printing anti-Nazi
leaflets, and he struggles to maintain a clear view of the
political implications of his and the others’ actions. He
decides to slow down Operation Bernhard by sabotaging the
counterfeiting process, a delay that threatens the lives
of his co-workers and brings him into conflict with Sorowitsch,
who sometimes seems to view their assignment as a
professional challenge more than anything else.

To read the complete article, see:
Full Story

[The Counterfeiters won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar
at tonight's Academy Awards ceremony!  -Editor]

 OPERATION BERNHARD FILM RELEASE: THE COUNTERFEITERS
 esylum_v10n40a16.html

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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