+ Best Austrian Movie of the Year + Best War Movie of the Year
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| A man sits on a beach with a box and some unknown thoughts, staring at the sea, on this appealing poster for Stefan Ruzowitzky's The Counterfeiters |
Nazis capture one of the world's best counterfeiters in Berlin, and during the horrors of WWII they see opportunities in him; his artistic talent and later knack for counterfeiting is put to use.
The Counterfeiters is written and directed by great Austrian filmmaker Stefan Ruzowitzky (Cold Hell/Die Hölle (2017)), based on the memoir by Adolf Burger, The Devils Workshop (1983). The film tells an incredible true story, which shows another side to Holocaust, the concentration camps and the Nazis: The hero (Karl Markovics (The Crown Prince/Kronprinz Rudolf (2006, TV movie))) is a Jew as we have often been conditioned to regard them: He is criminal, an opportunist, and good with money.
Good, layered characters raise the film's evocative moral question of idealism and martyrdom vs. one's right or possibly even obligation to do everything to preserve one's life in the face of war. There is good acting in the leads, even with German representation of Nazis, which isn't one-sided but has depth.
The Counterfeiters is shot on sometimes a bit grainy film, and at my screening there was a bit of confusion about a woman who appears in the beginning and ending of the film. It also has camp prisoners that sometimes don't look like 'the real deal'. SPOILER And what happened to those many millions of pounds that were created? The film left me curious as to their effect.
Still these are minor sidenotes to a terrific film.
Related post:
2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 6.25 mil. $
Box office: 18.8 mil. $
= Box office success (returned 3.00 times its cost)
[The Counterfeiters premiered 10 February (Berlin International Film Festival, Germany) and runs 98 minutes. Shooting took place in France, Germany, Monaco and in Vienna, Austria from March - May 2006. Ruzowitzky reportedly consulted closely with Burger to attain authenticity for the film. It opened #46 to an 87k $ first weekend in 8 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #21 and in 170 theaters (different weeks), grossing 5.4 mil. $ (28.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 3.8 mil. $ (20.2 %) and main production country Austria with 1.8 mil. $ (9.6 %). The film won the Best Foreign Film Oscar for Austria. It also won 1/7 nominations for German Film awards, a National Board of Review award and other honors. Ruzowitzky returned with Arabic action TV movie Almahabba Awards Festival TV Commercial (2008) and theatrically with Lilly the Witch: The Dragon and the Magic Book/Hexe Lilli: Der Drache und das Magische Buch (2009). Markovics returned in 3 TV movies and a short film anthology before he returned in a conventional film, which also was Lilly the Witch: The Dragon and the Magic Book. The Counterfeiters is certified fresh at 94 % with a 7.76/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of The Counterfeiters?
