The Counterfeiters not an easy film to watch

MediaPhile@evpl — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:12:00 GMT

I don't think that The Counterfeiters made it to the Evansville theatres, but you can now watch it in DVD. Made in Austria, it won the 2008 Oscar for Best Foreign Language film.

Late in WWII, the Germans conscripted a number of concentration camp prisoners with printing experience to produce counterfeit pounds and dollars. The plan? -- to keep their war effort going and to undermine the British and U.S. economies. Leading the project was one of the best counterfeiters in the world, who had earlier been captured and imprisoned for his larceny.

The drama in the film comes from the Jewish prisoners trying to decide whether to help or hinder the Germans. They are given many luxuries -- like clean sheets and good food -- not available to the other prisoners in the camp who face starvation and death. Aren't they just causing more deaths by prolonging the German efforts?

For more detail, read Krueger's men: the secret Nazi counterfeit plot and the prisoners of Block 19 by Lawrence Malkin.

Movies Blog : movies, holocaust

The Counterfeiters not an easy film to watch