Camden New Journal - Movies: The Counterfeiters

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The Review - AT THE MOVIES with WILLIAM HALL
Published: 11 October 2007

The master forger and the phoney fivers

THE COUNTERFEITERS - Directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky
Certificate 15

ONE of the most extraordinary episodes in the Second World War is marked by an equally extraordinary film, namely a novel plan by the Nazis to flood millions of counterfeit banknotes into Britain to turn our economy into turmoil.
The phoney fivers were created by Jewish expert artists and printers incarcerated in a concentration camp, where they were treated like royalty while outside the compound their comrades were being systematically executed.
Chief among the privileged inmates is Salomon Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics), who was enjoying life as the world’s top counterfeiter when he was picked up by the Germans. He saves his own skin by showing his sketches to the camp commandant (Devid Striesow), who recognises genius when he sees it and uses the forger for his own wicked ends.
Don’t worry about the subtitles. This credulity-straining saga is vividly brought to life in a story of survival and courage, with the chosen few risking their lives to stall and sabotage the printing as £132 million in five-pound notes churns off the presses – though quite what happened to the money is never made clear.
As the master forger, Karl Markovics pushes his conscience to the limit, knowing full well that his work will be of untold value to the Nazi war effort, and following the only precept he knows: “Adapt or die!”

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