The Counterfeiters (Die Fälscher)

“La Guerre est Finie” (The War is Over) reads a newspaper buried in the sand on the coast of France; the beach is empty except for Salomon Sorowitsch, the protagonist of The Counterfeiters. This opening scene, reminiscent of Polanski’s start to The Pianist, prepares the viewer for a flashback of the past ten years of Salomon’s life.
The film is based on Operation Bernhardt, an actual attempt by the Nazis to flood the British and American markets with fake notes; “the counterfeiters” were a mismatched band of about fifteen who were plucked from various concentration camps to carry out the plan. In exchange for their services, the Nazis treated them like first-class prisoners: they could shower and were given real clothing, better food and cigarettes.

As viewers, we can feel the internal conflict that torments these prisoners as they jump into Nazi operations. Though Salomon was in fact a criminal before the war (and viewed as one even by fellow prison mates), some of the other men, from Communist printers to doctors, view the operation as a tradeoff for survival.
The director does not judge for us who is right and who is wrong. Instead, he points to the power of human will and to the universal push to survive. Salomon strikes a deal with a young ambitious SS Herzog (coincidentally the same one who denounced him ten years before): to save his friend’s life, Salomon will attempt his greatest challenge─forging the US dollar. The Counterfeiters blurs the lines between victim and criminal, bringing a novel perspective to an era often viewed in black and white. Unlike Herzog, Salomon has killed no one in concentration camps, but the construct of the operation allows him to perpetuate the cycle of Nazi terror. Even after his release, it seems he continues his trade; its allure remains untainted by the atrocities he helped perpetuate.