The Counterfeiters - A-

In theaters. 99 minutes. Trailer.

As the winner of the most recent Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, I knew The Counterfeiters would be good, but I didn't expect it to be great. The film tells the story of a talented Jewish counterfeiter that is taken into a concentration camp and then put in charge of the Nazi effort to duplicate British Pounds and American Dollars in order to ruin the economies of those nations and, eventually, to help buy supplies for the Third Reich. As I have documented here before, I am leery of the 'holocaust drama' and generally hold the position that there are no more stories left to tell. The Counterfeiters isn't a film about the Holocaust, though it is used as a backdrop for this rich and intelligent film. Click below for more on one of last year's best movies.

The lead character, Sally (Karl Markovics, in a brilliantly understated performance), uses his significant artistic and technical talents to survive the Holocaust, but has to come to terms with the special treatment and favor shown him while his fellow Jews are being starved to death and experiencing the atrocities that were the Holocaust. He balances his own survival, the survival of his assistants, loyalty among the assistants, and his own slippery moral slope, all under the watchful eye of Nazis. When his Nazi captor uses the same selfish rationale as the Allies begin closing in, Sally is disgusted with himself. The film is bookended by excellent, tragic scenes after the war in Monte Carlo.

The film is understated and the director (Stefan Ruzowitzky) shows remarkable restraint, given the subject matter. One of the best of 2007.