Ahoy, squirts! Quint here to introduce the new piece from DarwinMayflower, who sent in his thoughts on Johnny To's newest last night. He's back with his thoughts on Stefan Ruzowitzky's (ANATOMY) new flick, a Nazi crime drama called THE COUNTERFEITERS... and he loved it! Enjoy his thoughts!

Going onto my second film of the fest, I was interested in this film mainly because of the plot. During the last few years WW2 the Nazis put together a real life secret operation called Operation Bernhard. The goal was to have a group of Jews adept in printing, forgeries and banking to produce a mass amount of counterfeit British Pounds and US Dollars to introduce into and destroy each respective economy. The film follows an expert counterfeiter Salomon "Sally" Sorowitsch as he recollects his time in the concetration camps, how he got there, what he did to survive and what he did near the end of the war.

The first thing that really hits you about this film is the great cinematography and the uplifting soundtrack which at times is completely inappropriate for the scene but I guess that's the point. It helps that the introduction to the film was shot in Monte Carlo, however from the lavish hotels of Monte Carlo, to the concentration camps in Berlin, the composition of some shots are just really well balanced and artistic. They look like they could be postcards or professionally taken scenic shots. A lot of the time the film has scenes in near complete darkness with only a table lamp or the lights of the guard towers shining through the windows; however the direction and actors perform so well, you never really feel that you are missing anything by seeing perhaps only a part of a face or a hand.

This isn't to say that all this beauty is reflective of it's presenting. One of the strengths of the film is the uncertainty Salomon's safety and especially the group of fellow forgers he works with. Salomon, being a criminal himself, weasels his way with his artistic talents to be in the good graces with the Nazis leading up to his final job. However along the way and during the operation, there never seems to be a guarantee that he'll come out unscathed. Quite often films that try to produce uncertainty of safety end up putting the protagonist in complete danger all the time or else making them too far from any danger to put them in any sort of risk. Ruzowitzky manages to balance the two equally so you feel that perhaps Salomon has it alright living in a blocked off and insolated area of the concentration camp, eating better and more food than the other prisoners and having a soft bed to sleep in at night. Yet at the same time the boarded up windows, the walls to the outside, the barbwire hanging overhead and the threats by the officers shows there is real danger at any time.

Everyone does a wonderful performance and really defines their own characters. The best part I find is that even within the group of these well off prisoners there is still conflict. The idealistic Burger is the opposing force to oft self-serving Salomon. It goes to show that even though people might have a difference of opinion, it doesn't mean that they don't believe in the same core principles. While Burger talks about sabotage, rebellion and making a difference in the war; Saloman talks about survival. loyalty to the group and self preservation. Burger wants to save the world whereas Saloman wants to save the group and his own hide. Neither them are wrong since a lot of shades of grey are introduced even to the point where simliarities are drawn to Saloman and the commanding officer in charge of the operation Herzog.

So far I have to say this is one of the best films I've seen during the fest and it'll be hard to beat at least for being a serious dramatic entry. It doesn't feel like a black and white "Just another WW2 movie" but more about human nature in an extreme situation. Yes you will see the typical WW2 atrocities and horrors that occured during the war, but at least they are meaningful within the film context as opposed to trying to shock people that these things actually happened. The only problem I did have was the editing. There were times where entire stretches of time were lost in a moment, which is a direct contrast to the some scenes where we get to see the dates. It is a bit jarring and fast paced but the visuals speak a ton, the perfomances are great and subtle and the dialogue is refreshing because it's just honest to good straight dialogue.