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The Counterfeiters [2007] [DVD]

DVD ~ August Diehl

4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)

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This item: The Counterfeiters [2007] [DVD] DVD ~ August Diehl
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The Lives Of Others [DVD] [2007] DVD ~ Martina Gedeck
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	60% buy the item featured on this page: The Counterfeiters [2007] [DVD] 4.4 out of 5 stars (15) �5.28
	15% buy The Lives Of Others [DVD] [2007] 4.7 out of 5 stars (127) �3.98
	9% buy The Counterfeiters [2007] [DVD] 3.2 out of 5 stars (4) �4.98
	8% buy Tell No-One (Ne Le Dis A Personne) [DVD] [2006] 4.0 out of 5 stars (73) �3.98

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Product details

Actors: August Diehl, Dolores Chapli, Devid Strieso, Karl Markovic, Martin Brambach
Directors: Stefan Ruzowitzky
Format: PAL
Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
Number of discs: 1
Classification: 15
Studio: Metrodome Distribution
DVD Release Date: 17 Mar 2008
Run Time: 95 minutes

Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)

ASIN: B0012RCM1U
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 5,688 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)
Popular in this category:
#42 in DVD > Drama > Historical

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Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

Not for nothing did Stefan Ruzowitzky’s powerful film The Counterfeiters walk away with the Best Foreign Picture Oscar at the 2008 Academy Awards. And like the previous year’s winner of the prize--the equally superb The Lives Of Others--there are some tough decisions for certain German citizens at the heart of it.

The Counterfeiters, though, is set in West Germany in 1936. It tells the true story of history’s biggest ever counterfeiting operation, set up by the Nazis. The mission? To forge foreign currency. And the king of counterfeiters proves to be Salomon Soroswitch, also known as Sally, who ultimately has to face the dilemma of what to do when he realises that his work is helping to fuel war.

There are so many reasons to commend The Counterfeiters that it’s tricky to know where to start. The cast, for instance, is uniformly excellent, and you could rightly wonder why Oscar overlooked both August Diehl and Karl Markovics for nominations. What’s more, it’s also stunningly, and very intelligently, directed, ratcheting up at times the kind of tension that hundreds of films try and fail to match every year. Married up to a script of three dimensional characters and historical reverence, it’s a quite brilliant package, and one that stays with you long after the credits have rolled.

The Counterfeiters is a very different film to The Lives Of Others, but both expertly reflect the dilemmas that individuals had to face in different parts of Germany, albeit some four or five decades apart. Both are exceptional pieces of cinema, though, and for the purposes of this particular review, The Counterfeiters deserves its Oscar, deserves its worldwide praise, and deserves to be part of your DVD collection. Don’t miss it. --Jon Foster

Product Description

The Counterfeiters is the true story of the largest counterfeiting operation in history, set up by the Nazis in 1936. Salomon "Sally" Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics) is the king of counterfeiters. He lives a mischievous life of cards, booze, and women in Berlin during the Nazi-era. Suddenly his luck runs dry when arrested by Superintendent Friedrich Herzog (Devid Striesow). Immediately thrown into the Mauthausen concentration camp, Salomon exhibits exceptional skills there and is soon transferred to the upgraded camp of Sachsenhausen. Upon his arrival, he once again comes face to face with Herzog, who is there on a secret mission. Hand-picked for his unique skill, Salomon and a group of professionals are forced to produce fake foreign currency under the program Operation Berhard. The team, which also includes detainee Adolf Burger (August Diehl), is given luxury barracks for their assistance. But while Salomon attempts to weaken the economy of Germany's allied opponents, Adolf refuses to use his skills for Nazi profit and would like to do something to stop Operation Bernhard's aid to the war effort. Faced with a moral dilemma, Salomon must decide whether his actions, which could prolong the war and risk the lives of fellow prisoners, are ultimately the right ones.

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Customer Reviews

15 Reviews

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.4 out of 5 stars (15 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating Drama, 26 Jul 2008

By	L. Davidson (Belfast, N.Ireland) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

"The Counterfeiters" is an excellent German language film set in Sachsenhausen concentration camp in the latter stages of World War Two. Karl Markovics plays a Jewish counterfeiter who ,together with other Jews from a printing background, are forced by the Nazis to forge English pound notes and dollar bills to help finance the Nazi's increasingly desperate war efforts. The strengths of this Oscar winning film are it's realistic characterisation and superb acting especially that of the mercurial Markovics.The brutality and inhumanity of the Nazis treatment of the Jews is vividly conveyed as is the survivalism of the Jewish prisoners. Definitely one of the best foreign language films that I have seen for some time.As good as "The Lives of Others".

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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars counterfeiters, 27 Feb 2008

By	kdog "kdog" (uk) - See all my reviews

The counterfeiters is a truly mesmerizing movie with an utterly compelling performance from Karl Markovics who plays the main character 'Sally' an artist turned counterfeiter par excellance.

When he is arrested by the Berlin police Sally finds himself in a concentration camp to survive he must adapt to his surroundings and he uses his artistic skills as a means of survival by painting portraits of the prison guards. Soon he is moved onto another camp and finds himself face to face with the man who put him in the concentration camp only now he wants Sally to work on a project to counterfeit the British pound in an attempt to flood the British currency market and ruin the economy.

The washed out colours and grainy film add to the archive feel of the film utterly compelling.

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Film, Gripping and Thought Provoking, 8 Jul 2008

By	foxhay "foxhay" (London) - See all my reviews

I thought this was a really gripping film and one that raised more complex ethical questions than is usual in this context.
The story centres on two central characters who are part of a group of prisoners in a concentration camp chosen by the Nazis to carry out a counterfeiting operation which could go far to aiding the Nazi war effort.
Burger is an idealistic communist, willing to sabotage the operation and sacrifice his life for his principles, unfortunately this would also mean sacrificing the lives of the others in the group. 'Solly' on the other hand is a criminal, a master counterfeiter whose pragmatism has ensured his survival throughout the war and before. He walks a tightrope between self preservation and honour towards his fellow inmates. He does not have the black and white outlook of Burger and sees partial coersion with the Nazis as the best way to preserve his life and the lives of the other prisoners in his group. He is a complex and interesting character suberbly played by Markovics. In fact all the acting in this film is excellent. Overall the film manages to operate both as a tense, involving drama and one that raises an interesting debate about what would be 'the right thing to do' in such harrowing circumstances. Highly recommended.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Film, historically accurate
I bought this film after visiting KZ Sachsenhausen, and our extremely knowledgeable tour guide recommended it to us. Read more

Published 2 months ago by KH Jandl Robinson

5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting and absorbing
A based on true events story of a group of Jewish concentration camp prisoners coerced by the Nazi war machine into counterfeiting the English Pound and US Dollar in order to... Read more

Published 2 months ago by geurilla pen

4.0 out of 5 stars holocaust
This is a drama about survival in terrible conditions. How chances,even litle ones had to be grabbed with both hands without losing dignity in a frightened and maltreated group of... Read more

Published 6 months ago by Mrs. D. Swinbourne

5.0 out of 5 stars A tense, fascinating true tale about a group of skilled Jewish counterfeiters, Nazi brutality and corrupt German self-interest
Salomon Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics) is a professional criminal, a master counterfeiter and a Jew. He winds up in a brutal Nazi labor camp because of all three. Read more

Published 10 months ago by C. O. DeRiemer

4.0 out of 5 stars language
The DVD on offer here is in German with English subtitles. I recommend the movie - definitely one of the most memorable I've seen this year. Read more

Published 11 months ago by Ruth Jamie Babington

5.0 out of 5 stars At last...
Some years I go months and months without seeing a half decent film and start to wonder if I've just gone off films altogether. Read more

Published 14 months ago by Dyspeptic Spirit

3.0 out of 5 stars Language?
Does anybody know if this film has the original German Soundtrack with English subtitles or has it been dubbed? Read more

Published 15 months ago by Christian Oribio

4.0 out of 5 stars Worthy of our attention
This Holocaust film falls short of the power of Schlinder's List, but it is an interesting story with credible acting and an intelligent script. Read more

Published 18 months ago by Jones the Film

2.0 out of 5 stars Unrealistic
The film fictionalises Operation Bernhard. A plan hatched by the Nazis was to destabilise the United Kingdom by flooding its economy with forged Bank of England currency. Read more

Published 19 months ago by Antyllus

4.0 out of 5 stars Pounds
The New Germany and Austria by extension have been in the process, these past several years, of divesting themselves of National Guilt in regards to the atrocities of World War 2:... Read more

Published 20 months ago by MICHAEL ACUNA

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