Fälscher, Die (Counterfeiters, The)

Runtime: 98min 37secs
Language: German & Russian (with English Subtitles)
Tagline: It takes a clever man to make money, it takes a genius to stay alive.
Written and Directed by: Stefan Ruzowitzky

Plot Outline:
The true story of the largest counterfeiting operation in history, set up by the Nazis in 1936. Salomon "Sally" Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics) is the king of counterfeiters. He lives a mischievous life of cards, booze, and women in Berlin during the Nazi-era. Suddenly his luck runs dry when arrested by Superintendent Friedrich Herzog (Devid Striesow).

Immediately thrown into the Mauthausen concentration camp, Salomon exhibits exceptional skills there and is soon transferred to the upgraded camp of Sachsenhausen. Upon his arrival, he once again comes face to face with Herzog, who is there on a secret mission.

Hand-picked for his unique skill, Salomon and a group of professionals are forced to produce fake foreign currency under the program Operation Berhard. The team, which also includes detainee Adolf Burger (August Diehl) whose novel this film is based upon, is given luxury barracks for their assistance. But while Salomon attempts to weaken the economy of Germany's allied opponents, Adolf refuses to use his skills for Nazi profit and would like to do something to stop Operation Bernhard's aid to the war effort. Faced with a moral dilemma, Salomon must decide whether his actions, which could prolong the war and risk the lives of fellow prisoners, are ultimately the right ones.

Overall Impressions:
Well, it's certainly a very interesting story, that I didn't know before coming across the film, so it's certainly been educational. Who would have thought money could be so extremely important to the welfare of whole countries? When I came across posters of the film I just thought it would be based upon some criminal / crime outfit and some good conterfeiter who had a good go at it, got greedy or lazy and then got caught, kinda like all the films you see about drugs, with a moral to the story being good should prevail over evil and what not. So it was great to find a film of much deeper meaning and thought.

Not only does it make you think a little about how the 'evil' becomes much hazier when your life is on the line but it's also acted out and executed extremely well. What more can you ask for?... Yea' I know ..Big explosions, Ninjas, Guns, Knives, Swords, etc. Okay seriously though, the only small complaint I would perhaps have is that the narrative runs a little slowly, making the duration a little tiresome, but otherwise this film is just money.

An interesting story, well told, with superb performances. Definitely worth a watch.