Vote on this title
Click on a gene to vote or discover related titles.
-
Mood:
- CaptivatingTenseDisturbingEmotionalSuspensefulUplifting
-
Plot:
- Anti HeroesForgerySurvivalMoral DilemmaWartime LifeConfinedHeroesHopes more...
-
Genres:
- DramaWarForeignPeriod
-
Time/Period:
- 20th Century30s40sWorld War 2
-
Place:
- EuropeConcentration Camp
-
Praise:
- Oscar WinnerPrestigious Awards
-
Based on:
- Based on True Story
-
Attitudes:
- SeriousRealistic
Does this gene fit The Counterfeiters?
Find it on:
| IMDb | |
| Rotten Tomatoes |
The Counterfeiters, 2007
German, Russian, English, Hebrew
Austria, Germany
Profile of The Counterfeiters
The Counterfeiters can be described as tense, captivating, and uplifting. The plot revolves around forgery, a moral dilemma, and wartime life. The main genres are drama, foreign, and period. In approach, The Counterfeiters is serious and realistic. It is set, at least in part, in a concentration camp. It is located in Europe. The Counterfeiters takes place in the 1930s. It is originally a true story. The movie has received attention for being an Oscar winner.
Summary of The Counterfeiters
Winner of the 2008 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Stefan Ruzowitzky's The Counterfeiters is the first film from Austria to ever receive that prestigious honor. Based on the memoir by Adolf Burger, the film tells the inspiring story of a pre-World War II criminal whose cunning and fiery spirit enable him to overcome deadly odds and survive life in Germany's Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Before the war, Salomon Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics) was one of the world's most ingenious counterfeiters, until he was finally caught and arrested by Friedrich Herzog (Devid Striesow). Years later, as the Nazi movement is in full swing, the nefariously charming Herzog--now a Nazi leader--recruits Sorowitsch to lead an enormous counterfeiting project called Operation Bernhard. Placed in a horrific position of moral corruption, Sorowitsch is forced to decide whether or not to save his own life or prevent the Nazis from causing further damage on an even grander scale. His fellow prisoner Adolf Burger (August Diehl) is determined to sabotage the operation, but Sorowitsch understands how dangerous a proposition this is.
While The Counterfeiters is based on real-life tragedy, it never loses its primary objective as a work of dramatic entertainment. This deft balancing act is what keeps Ruzowitzky's moving tale from becoming too bleak and depressing. The result is a deeply impressive work that addresses a topic not often explored in Holocaust cinema--the dilemma of victims who were forced to act immorally and illegally for the betterment of their captors. Powerfully acted by Markovics, The Counterfeiters is the type of film that the Oscars were made for.
Details
| Language: | German, Russian, English, Hebrew |
| Country: | Austria, Germany |
| Release date: | 9 February 2008 |
| Runtime: | 98 min |
| Awards: | Academy Awards |
Awards
Cast and Crew
as Adolf Burger
as Salomon 'Sally' Sorowitsch
as Sturmbannführer Friedrich Herzog
Photos
Clips
Critics Reviews
Chicago Tribune
- |
- by: Michael Phillips
The New Yorker
- |
- by: David Denby
