[LMS] The counterfeiters

Die Falscher (The counterfeiters), by Stefan Ruzowitzky (Austria/Germany 2007)

Primo Levi writes in one of his books (I believe "If this is a man - survival in Auschwitz" although it could be "The truce", too) that none of those who had survived the concentration camps for more than a few months was a "standard" prisoner; each of the survivors had some special skill that could be fruitfully exchanged in the camp "market": medical doctors, artisans, people skilled in creating connections.

The protagonist of this movie, called Salomon Sorowitsch ("Solly"), stands at the top of this category of people because he has something that the Nazis themselves desire; he is a superbly gifted counterfeiter and the Nazis need just someone that could be able to co-ordinate an enormous forgery operation; they want to fabricate false American dollars and British pounds in order to put pressure on the economies of the Allied countries.

I quite liked it. The movie in particular hits the mark on the following point. According to the above cited Primo Levi (this time I recall that this is written in "If this is a man") people in the concentration camp lost every human quality except the ones on which survival hinges; but just a very few hours after the Germans left other human qualities surfaced again in the camp life, as for example the sense of fairness.

In this movie something similar happens. The protagonist, master counterfeiter, and other prisoners, all skilled printers and graphic artists, are singled out to be part of the Nazi forgery operation; they are given a relatively comfortable life and they are free from the danger of dying at any moment. There is again space for their human sides to come out.

In particular we see the confrontation between an extremely individualistic concept of one's life (the protagonist Salomon; he would like to run the forgery operation smoothly because it is a guarantee on his life) and a concept that includes solidarity among men (the young Burger, who has also lost his wife in the camp, would like to sabotage it because its purpose is not good even if it is something that for the moment at least is saving his life). I have noticed that often the argument that is carried to support the individualistic concept of life is that this concept is the only effective and realistic approach to life. One of the methods that people use to present this argument is keeping their mouth shut. Salomon in fact uses silence as one of his arguments; the most talkative character is the young man Burger. Judgment is up to the audience. I think that the movie is quite precise in the representation of the various points of view.

There are a few more interesting things and also some defects, but I shall cut it here because I think I have written enough; take note that in painting Salomon as a purely negative character I have oversimplified: he has a deep cynical part of his character, though. Just a small note on the cinematography with an often coarse-grained and gray-greenish appearance which fits the topic and setting of the movie.