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Karl Markovics is the crafty "king of the counterfeiters" in Stefan Ruzowitsky's Oscar-winning drama
Survival of the Canniest:
The Counterfeiters
2-29-08 "Knight Thoughts" web exclusive review
By Richard Knight, Jr.
The Counterfeiters
2-29-08 "Knight Thoughts" web exclusive review
By Richard Knight, Jr.
The Counterfeiters is the engrossing, true story of Salomon “Sally” Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics), Germany’s greatest counterfeiter
and a Russian Jew, who after five years in a concentration camp found himself transported to a secluded area of the camp dubbed
The Golden Cage. Here Sally and his fellow prisoners are stunned to find bunk beds with actual sheets and pillows (with cases), hot
food and in a traumatic scene, hot showers. These men were then ordered to make phony money that the Nazis could use to
continue financing the war effort and to hopefully, eventually, ruin the international economy. In the film Sally doesn’t question the
assignment (though others do) and goes about his task without a protest. In a rare unguarded moment he reveals his philosophy
to a fellow prisoner, “One adapts or dies. I won’t give the Nazis the pleasure of being ashamed I’m still alive.” Sally is determined
to do a good job because he’s proud of his counterfeiting abilities and, as in The Bridge on the River Kwai, you catch yourself at
moments rooting for the group to succeed at their task – and help the Nazis.
The gripping story of this group, told through Sally’s eyes is yet another example of the crazy, nearly incomprehensible stories of life
inside a WWII concentration camp. The movie emphasizes the madness with telling details – a ping pong table gifted to the
prisoners at one point, for example – and the music score which features a warm harmonica is as out of place as the comparatively
nice amenities inside the Golden Cage and the ghastly realities of the death camp just beyond the other side of the wall. Subtitled.
and a Russian Jew, who after five years in a concentration camp found himself transported to a secluded area of the camp dubbed
The Golden Cage. Here Sally and his fellow prisoners are stunned to find bunk beds with actual sheets and pillows (with cases), hot
food and in a traumatic scene, hot showers. These men were then ordered to make phony money that the Nazis could use to
continue financing the war effort and to hopefully, eventually, ruin the international economy. In the film Sally doesn’t question the
assignment (though others do) and goes about his task without a protest. In a rare unguarded moment he reveals his philosophy
to a fellow prisoner, “One adapts or dies. I won’t give the Nazis the pleasure of being ashamed I’m still alive.” Sally is determined
to do a good job because he’s proud of his counterfeiting abilities and, as in The Bridge on the River Kwai, you catch yourself at
moments rooting for the group to succeed at their task – and help the Nazis.
The gripping story of this group, told through Sally’s eyes is yet another example of the crazy, nearly incomprehensible stories of life
inside a WWII concentration camp. The movie emphasizes the madness with telling details – a ping pong table gifted to the
prisoners at one point, for example – and the music score which features a warm harmonica is as out of place as the comparatively
nice amenities inside the Golden Cage and the ghastly realities of the death camp just beyond the other side of the wall. Subtitled.
