The Counterfeiters (2006/Sony Blu-ray + DVD-Video)
Picture: B/C+ Sound: B/B- Extras: B Film: B
There
have been many counterfeiting thrillers and a few (like To Live & Die In L.A.) that even work and hold up, but Stefan
Ruzowitzky’s The Counterfeiters
(2006) is based on a true story of what turned out to be the biggest and most
successful counterfeiting scheme of all time.
It is also one those who were making the bad bills purposely sabotaged
because they were slave labor to Nazi Germany in a death camp, making British
Pounds and soon, American Dollars as the regime was bankrupt and needed money
for the war they were losing.
The film
begins with a man named Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics) is an expert with
illustration, copying, reproduction and forgery in a way that is striking. He can make fake imports with little trouble
and as WWII goes on, is moving along fine until he is nabbed by an ambitious
Nazi who gets a promotion, only to meet up with him again alter at a death
camp, where he needs the artistic services of the con man for the
aforementioned secret operation.
Put with
a crew of different prisoners of different walks of life, their work area is
not like other camps. They have food,
comfortable beds and even music they would not have otherwise. Their work area is cut off from the rest of
the camp they are at, so we never see the sicker, more tortured prisoners, but
it is still a prison with all the windows and ceilings covered. The materials may be translucent, but it is a
cage nonetheless.
After
successfully creating imitation British Pounds, the Nazis want Dollars with the
intent to use it to do everything from paying their best agents, to ruining the
economies of the Allied powers to buy time and change the course of a war they
need to lose. The men realize if they
make a successful dollar, it will at least prolong the war or worse, help the
Nazis win. This includes a Socialist who
equates the Allied Capitalism with Fascism and could get hem all killed.
In one of
the greatest untold stories of WWII, this film does a great job of getting the
major points across, including several bits of irony from Ruzowitzky’s
script. Performances are strong all
around, there is suspense, realism and pacing that works very effectively,
though I wanted a film that was even longer and went further, yet sometimes
subtlety is best and the film avoids any sensationalism that many might have
been tempted to do. The Counterfeiters is one of the few
films about WWII and The Holocaust anyone will still be talking about from the
recent cycle in ten or more years and is worth going out of your way for.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image is not bad, but can be grainy, some of
which seems to be in an on-purpose style, but it is done intentionally and is
consistent, though some shots have more clarity than others. I give the makers credit for not confining
the grain only to the death camps. The
anamorphically enhanced DVD is poorer and would make you think this was not
shot as well by Benedict Neuenfels, A.A.C./B.V.K., intended. Either way, the look works. The Dolby True HD 5.1 mix on the Blu-ray is
better than the Dolby Digital 5.1 on the DVD, with well-recorded dialogue, good
sound editing and ambiance that adds dimension to the film and the
narrative. It is not sonically all out,
but does not need to be either.
Extras include
BD Live functions exclusive to the Blu-ray, but both editions have the same
impressive extras, including deleted scenes, a making of featurette, a good
Q&A segment with Ruzowitzky, a fine feature length audio commentary with
Ruzowitzky that includes optional subtitles, interviews black (separate pieces
you can watch a one) with Adolf Burger, Actor Markovics & Ruzowitzky and Adolf Burger’s Historical Artifacts in
which the man shows the handmade forgeries of the British Pound and other key
items that show what the group pulled off and how they helped essentially save
the world. Yes, this rightly won the
Best Foreign Film Academy Award.
- Nicholas Sheffo
