The Counterfeiters (Die Fälscher)
September 2008 Reviewed by: Rad Bennett Format: Blu-ray	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

This taut drama won the Academy Award last year as Best Foreign Picture. It is based on a book by Adolf Burger titled The Devil’s Workshop, which tells of a Nazi-run counterfeiting ring during World War II that was staffed by captured Jewish prisoners. The 90-year-old Burger should know, because he was there.

The Nazis hoped to destroy the British and American economies by flooding the market with bogus pounds and dollars. The Holocaust provided just what were needed -- skilled Jewish artisans who would work on the project to avoid being gassed or murdered in some other unspeakable way. Salomin "Sally" Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics), a Russian Jew recognized as the best counterfeiter in Europe, became the ersatz leader of the band. Adolf Burger (August Diehl) was both his friend and antagonist. Sorowitsch saw helping the Germans as a way to stay alive; Burger was concerned about the greater good and the harm that their project would cause other Jews, not to mention the Free World. Sorowitsch honed his craft to produce a British pound that even the Bank of England accepted as real, while Burger slowed and sabotaged the work on the American dollar.

The men were given better rations than other prisoners as well as better beds, housing, and toilet facilities. These were still substandard, so one can shudder on imagining the awful lot of the regular prisoner. The Nazi thinking on providing amenities was bizarre. Music was constantly piped into the workplace, usually opera or artsy folk music. A pool table was provided as a means for recreation. Pressured by his superiors, the head of the camp, Friedrich Herzog (Devid Striesow), was relentless in his pursuit of the American dollar, which eluded perfection thanks to Burger’s efforts. We know the Nazis were not a nice group of people, and in this movie they are particularly nasty. There is a one scene that will shock even the most jaded of World War II movie fans.

It is difficult to rate the video transfer to Blu-ray. Most scenes are laden with grain, sometimes quite a bit of it, and the look can be very rough and ready. But it was thus in the theater, and this is apparently the look that the director, Ravid Ruzowitzky, required of the cinematographer, Benedict Nuenffels. In fact, in the fine print on the back cover of the disc we find this disclaimer: "This film employs a variety of film stocks and grain structures in order to tell the story. This intentional visual style has been retained for this high definition presentation, as per the filmmaker's intent."

Actually, all the print is fine print on that cover, and if anyone over 40 can read it without glasses or squinting, I would be amazed. Fortunately, the electronic subtitles for the film are easy to read.

The audio is less elusive to peg. This is a very good mix designed to spotlight the dialogue up front. There are few surround distractions, though the back channels are not entirely silent. The music is full-boded even when mixed down under the dialogue.

The most important extra has Burger talking about his experience, illustrating with artifacts he has collected over the years. He even tells us that the men produced false postage stamps and displays quite a few of them. The director’s commentary is exceptionally intelligent and entertaining, but the deleted scenes were wisely removed -- no treasure there. There are informative interviews with Marcovics (who swears he did not research the part, implicitly trusting his director), Burger, and Ruzowitzky.

The Counterfeiters is an excellent piece of stylish and thrilling entertainment, proving that truth can be just as exciting as fiction. Its Blu-ray presentation is excellent, though the style of photography makes it anything but a demonstration disc for HD. Watch it for the acting and the story.

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