No easy answers
The Counterfeiters ends without giving any clear moral or ethical answers, but in this case that is a strength. In a deal with the devil there are no simple answers, particularly for one as bizarre as this one. We see enough of typical KZ life to appreciate why anyone would want to avoid it. Director Ruzowitzky wisely decided to keep the sights of daily concentration camp horror to a minimum, letting the viewer share the counterfeiters' audible perceptions and brief glimpses of what was happening outside their sheltered environment -- and thus their shock when they are almost shot by fellow inmates who take them for Germans after the camp is abandoned. They are much too clean and well-dressed to be inmates.The DVD
The Region 2/PAL (Germany/Europe) DVD release is in the original German. There are no subtitles except for German for hearing impaired. The "Bonus Material" is rather meager, with a short and mediocre "making of" segment, a few deleted scenes, and the movie trailer. A UK subtitled DVD is scheduled for release in March 2008. No US DVD release date has been announced. The German DVD (Region 2) is available online from Amazon.de and other sources.Note for high school teachers of German: The film contains some nudity, violence, and scenes that may not be suitable for students under 18. The German rating is "ab 12" (age 12 and up), but the U.S. rating is "R."
Bottom Line: I give this film four out of five stars because it's above average and it deserves its Oscar. Despite a few weaknesses, this is a film well worth seeing, one that exposes Nazi madness much better than earlier German films such as Downfall (Der Untergang).
The True Story
Die Fälscher is based on historical events, but the film is fiction. If you want to find out more about the real story, there are several books available.- Adolf Burger's 1983 book, the basis for the film, was originally published in Czech and Slovak, then translated into German. So far Des Teufels Werkstatt: Die größte Geldfälscheraktion der Weltgeschichte (2007) has not been published in English.
- Krueger's Men by Lawrence Malkin is available in both English and German (Hitlers Geldfälscher, 2007). Better researched and more detailed than Burger's book, Krueger's Men is also available in paperback (2008). See www.lawrencemalkin.com for more.
Also see the Web links on this page.