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Counterfeiters (The)
R3 - Hong Kong - Panorama Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Shane Roberts & Noor Razzak (17th January 2009). |
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The Film
 Germany 1936: Salomon ‘Sally’ Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics) is a counterfeiter who makes a very good living providing people with false passports and documents so they can flee the country. This makes him unpopular with both the German police and jealous business rivals. After one of them informs on him he’s arrested and, being Jewish, ends up in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp where he trades on his artistic skills to be spared hard labour and/or death by painting portraits of the camp commanders and their families. This brings him to the attention of the officers in charge of Project Bernhard, a special operation the Nazis have planned to ruin the American and English economies by flooding them with forged money. Placed in charge of the group, and constantly under pressure to produce results by German Commandant Friedrich Herzog (Devid Streisow), Salomon comes into conflict with both Adolf Burger (August Diehl) one of his fellow counterfeiters and his own conscience as to whether they should collaborate with the enemy and be given special treatment or sabotage the operation and face probable execution. Since their heyday in the 40's, 50's and 60's, war films (like Westerns) have faded in and out of fashion, but their popularity has always brought them back, often in a faze (to comment on) a certain conflict (like the Vietnam films that followed the 1986 release of "Platoon"). Unsurprisingly, post 9/11 there’s been a constant string of releases but ironically the likes of "Lions for Lambs" (2007), "Redacted" ( 2007), "In The Valley Of Elah" (2007) and "Stop-Loss" (2008) that are based around the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and have tried to maneuver the political and moral minefield involved have almost bombed because of bad reviews and/or disinterest from the public, while the best examples of the genre "The Pianist" (2002), "Downfall" (2004), "Days of Glory" (2006), "Black Book" (2006) and now Stefan Ruzowitzky’s "The Counterfeiters" released during the same time period have all been set in World War II where the ideas of right and wrong are clear cut because of the holocaust and other atrocities committed by the German forces. Based on the novel "The Devil’s Workshop" by Adolf Burger, one of only three survivors of the group, writer/director Ruzowitzky’s screenplay evidently takes a few small liberties with the facts but that doesn’t stop it, coupled with his stark and powerful direction, from giving us an incredibly suspenseful thriller full of tense and harrowing scenes. It’s a surprise and a definite step up in style and range from the director whose previous films included "Anatomy" (2000) and "Anatomy 2" (2003), German entries in the post "Scream" (1996) serial killer genre and "All The Queen's Men" (2001) which, while also set in World War II had a slightly lighter tone seeing as it featured a group of allied soldiers including Matt LeBlanc and Eddie Izzard infiltrating a female run factory to steal a code machine… while dressed in drag. The entire cast are outstanding but Diehl as the idealistic Burger who is determined to sabotage the operation because he can’t come to terms with helping the Nazis as well as the special treatment he receives while other prisoners (including his own wife and children) suffer, and Markovics as Sorowitsch who gradually and subtly changes from a smug self-centred playboy into a man of conscience and an unlikely hero without feeling clichéd or predictable, are both exceptional. After many films set in concentration camps, "The Counterfeiters", like Sorowitsch’s character, is an original story told in an unclichéd and effecting way. Highly recommended.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1 this anamorphic transfer could be much better than presented here by Panorama Entertainment. The image suffers from inconsistent sharpness, the noise is heavy and predominant especially amid the backs and this can be rather distracting. While skin tones appear natural the rest of the color scheme is rather drab and dull but this is more the aesthetic of the film rather than the transfer. There's a lot of grain, this adds texture and weight to the film but it can be a bit much at times and as such detail suffers.
Audio
Two audio tracks are included in German Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo. The soundtrack fares better than the transfer, dialogue is clear and distortion free, the ambient sounds are present but subtle and immerse the viewer in the confined world of these characters. There's some aggressiveness to the track but not in the usual ways most viewers would be used to with action films or blockbusters, but instead the mix is active with it's surrounds and brings the suffering and challenges of these characters to the forefront. It's at times intense but it's perfect for the film and creates a tone and feel that works. Optional subtitles are included in both Chinese and English. The English subtitles are good enough, no grammatical or spelling errors were detected.
Extras
There are no extras on this disc whatsoever.
Packaging
This disc is packaged in an amaray case housed in a cardboard slip-case.
Overall
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