The Counterfeiters - Essay Example

Die Falscher (The Counterfeiters) Country: Austria/ Germany Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky Year: 2007 Running Time: 98 minutes Story: Based on the book by Adolf Burger Screenplay: Stefan Ruzowitzky Starring: Karl Markovics, August Diehl, Devid Striesow Award: Best Foreign Language Film in the 2008 Academy Awards Studio/Distributor: Magnolia Filmproduktion The atrocity of war is a theme greatly dealt with in films. The brutalities of World War II especially as depicted according to the accounts in concentration camps such in places as Auschwitz is a rich material toward the full utilization of cinematic drama to enable the audience to sympathize with the characters. The authenticity of the events as they have occurred in real life transports the audience to see what people had been subjected to during those dark times. “Die Falscher “or “The Counterfeiters” takes on a new light in the development of the historical construct that was the Nazi concentration camps by introducing divergent characters who are as real as they could possibly be. The reality of human nature as one faces moral problems is an inherent quality that we cannot escape, particularly if we are faced with choices under abnormal circumstances. “The Counterfeiters” brings a new perspective on the people that seem inconsequential but make the ultimate difference and how their choices bring about the consequences that may reasonably alter the course of history. Consequently, flooding the market with counterfeited bills of the enemy is a viable plot to sway the war, but this intangible notion of a mere possibility in the eyes of prison workers is secondary to the threat of imminent death. The film presents us inadvertently with an alternate scenario where the dollar was forged earlier and the Nazis could have stood a better chance of winning the entire war. “The Counterfeiters” shows us that the infamous concentration camps of World War II, just as fundamentally as history itself, are made up of people, people and their choices. As the introduction of Eleanor Roosevelt to the renowned book “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl” so eloquently puts it, “living in constant fear and isolation, imprisoned not only by the terrible outward circumstances of war but inwardly by themselves, made me intimately and shockingly aware of war's greatest evil--the degradation of the human spirit.” Though Anne Frank and the people in “The Counterfeiters” may have had different experiences, the fear and mortification runs parallel between them. The men chosen for ‘Operation Bernhand were handpicked because of their previous professions vital to the operations of a large-scale currency counterfeiting scheme confidential even to other high ranking SS officials. Central to the entire process is Salomon ‘Sally’ Sorowitsch, a world class counterfeiter living the high life in Berlin before he was caught by the Sturmbannfuhrer Friedrich Herzog. “Like most films about the Holocaust it is a survivor’s tale, and its protagonist, at least at first, seems long on guile and short on scruple” (Scott par.1). The triangle in his uniform represents the tag of a habitual criminal separating him from the other prisoners. Displaying his skills in cunning, Sally finds himself comfortable in the Mauthausen concentration camp by capitalizing on his artistic skills and painting for the Nazi officers. His transfer to the Sachsenhausen camp reunited him with Herzog who privies him to his new role in the forging of the British pound and then onwards to the American dollar. The pivotal dynamics of the story revolves around the struggle between the ideals of two men between Sally Sorowitsch and Adolf Burger. The two represent diverging ethos each with its own viable merit. The film is essentially a story of survival under dire circumstances and how a tactical plan by the Nazis could bring the war to an end. This is framed in the characters of the story and how the human ethical dilemma of choosing between one’s fight to stay alive and the triumph of the common good lies in the hands of two men. Burger sees the bigger picture and the magnitude effect they could cause against the fight of their own people while Sorowitsch abides by the common prison principles of doing anything to survive and never snitching on a comrade. Early on in the film the audience is introduced to the extravagant disposition of a man who checks himself in at a luxurious hotel in Monte Carlo paying in cash from his briefcase filled with stacks of hundred dollar bills. Then we are taken years back to his life in Berlin as a common crook in a watering hole with a new Nazi recruit borrowing money from him and a White woman casting a repulsed stare at his evidently Jewish name, Salomon. His talent was highlighted by showing how he falsifies an Argentinean passport for a woman threatened by the Nazi invasion. He remarks, “Why earn money by making art? Earning money by making money is far easier” (Die Falscher). The direction points us toward the understanding of an aspect of human nature to take the easy route. The business of forgery is a tool intended to be used by the Nazis to sway the war in their favor. By flooding the economy with fake currencies, the opposing government would not be able to sustain its monetary obligation to pay for its own currency according to their reserves. The pound, as forged by the group bears very distinct features even today. The notes of Britain bear the words, “These banknotes not only feature a portrait of Queen Elizabeth, but also the imprint ‘I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of ?20’” (Hulsmann 162). This represents what the bill stands for and what Project Bernhard may be able to do through its goals of extensive falsification. The movie reveals that they were able to produce counterfeited notes equivalent to ?132 million which is four times the size of the British government’s foreign currency reserves. Claiming that “Operation Bernhard remains the largest counterfeiting operation of all time” (Die Falscher). The proliferation of these fake bills would bring down the economy of the Allied nations effortlessly. This would have meant that the war will be won by the Nazis and history would have been written differently. The movie, in its entirety, suggests that had they been successful in forging the dollar earlier then the Allied forces would have not had the financial stability to carry on with the war. The continued undertakings of the team could have resulted to the successful counterfeiting of the dollar, had they been on track from the beginning and would have faltered the Allied forces’ chances to continue as financial woes would soon struck. Their currencies would have plummeted as there would no longer be a balance to country’s reserves to answer for their monetary obligations as each note represents. The pound and the dollar would have been rendered next to worthless because of the propagation of the fake notes and with no way to determine which is real from not would have been gravely in favor of Nazi Germany. Dubbed as the “economic weapon” of the Nazis, Operation Bernhard was named after “Schutz-staffel SS-(SBF) Bernhard Kruger, an engineer appointer director of banknote production” who also served as its overall director covering the teams in Ravensbruck, Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen (Fischel 192). This seemingly simple operations rested on the shoulders of a few Jewish prisoners could have had a greater impact upon its realization. This was known to the workers themselves and especially Adolf Burger who stood to be the voice of reason throughout the entire film. It is also perhaps no vague coincidence that the movie is based on his novel and his claim of the massive counterfeiting operations in Sachsenhausen. The award-winning Austrian film is based on Burger’s autobiographical work titled “The Devil’s Workplace” where he chronicles the parallel lives of the Jewish counterfeiters in concentration camps which totals to 142. Burger is a Slovakian Jew and works as a printer in Bratislava where he forges passports and other documents for subversive communists (Seret 235). Salomon Sorowitsch is loosely based on Salamon Smolianoff who had already been deceased on the making of the film making it impossible to acquire his consent for filming. This understandably leads to some creative input that the director has to make to accommodate the portrayal of Holocaust survivors and the event itself for cinematic considerations (Prager 76). Adolf Burger was portrayed as the idealist in the bunch who was willing to sabotage completion of their attempts at duplicating the dollar. Burger centers on the moral dilemma of he and his wife’s activism as they were both arrested for printing anti-Nazi materials as the movie reveals. The intentional imperfection in the collotype made it impossible to complete the dollar and their insistence to Herzog that the problem is in the gelatin used. He represents the interest for the greater good and though he stands alone, he continues with his personal crusade to impede the reproduction of the dollar. This, however, leaves a question to the mind of the audience on why there was no such similar intent to obstruct the replication of the pound from the very beginning. Burger was hailed a hero to the other prisoners in the end as his efforts to delay their work allowed them to see the war to the very end just right before they would have had replicated millions of dollar notes. Contrary to Burger’s wide-eyed idealism to hinder the Nazis from their devious economic scheme is Sally’s inclination toward self-preservation. Rather than thinking of the implications that their work could bring, Sally has one definite goal, and that is to stay alive and to keep everyone close to him out of harm’s way through whatever means necessary. Robert Reimer and Carol Reimer observe, “He sees that nothing can be done, the war may be over soon, and the only duty is to stay alive” (48). This is a fundamental human intuition that cannot be undermined as it is equally powerful, perhaps even more so, than the aspiration to fulfill an envisioned reality. As Sally’s somewhat personal motto encapsulates it, “I’m myself. Everyone else is everyone else” (Die Falscher). He lives only for himself and cooperates with the Nazis in order to survive. The film focuses on a softer side of Sally through Kolya Karloff who had been like a son to him as they share memories of the same art school and a love for the arts. He had served as protector of the younger Karloff especially when the latter had been ailing from tuberculosis. Sally refused to let the SS know of his condition and had even bargained with Herzog for medicine refusing to reveal who among them is inflicted. Herzog’s betrayal and Holst’s shooting of the weakened Kolya which Sally had witnessed was an emotional scene which transformed the protagonist’s attitude and his demeanor. The survivalist attitude of Sorowitsch was also pivotal theme driving the film from the very beginning. There are a number of scenes in the movie where the direction leads the viewer to truly familiarize to this nature. When he was arrested and sent to Mauthausen, he knew he was not cut out for the hard labor that the prisoners were subjected to. Despite the cuts and bruises on his hands, he took the pen and paper and played on the officer’s ego by drawing his portrait in a patriotic light knowing this would play to his strengths which prompted his transfer to a more suitable condition as a painter with easier access to better food he can steal. There is somewhat humor in that the scene where the woman in bed that he was painting compliments talent but as the camera pans out, the audience sees a rather crude illustration of two naked bodies drawn from the back. Sorowitsch allowed the development of the conflict where he represents the group of men struggling and willing to do anything to survive. Favorable conditions are the primary concern that Sally has had throughout his captivity. He is aware of the dreadful conditions that they were put into but he never resolved to accept the atmosphere of death and hopelessness around him. It was survival at all cost which translates to the notion of ‘survival of the fittest’ which has determined his confinement and the same goes for almost all others within his group except for Burger. Their dissimilarities were the foundation towards the amplification of the central tension in the film. Initially, when they were both transferred to the new camp, they were given new details starting from civilian clothes that had tags of dead people’s names on them. Sally nonchalantly took off the paper, read the name for a second and threw the tag. Burger, on the other hand, dismissed wearing them which prompted Herzog to remark, “You can wear prison stripes if you prefer. After all, stripes flatter the figure” (Die Falscher). Relentlessly, Zilinski was unwavering in voicing out his contempt over Burger’s rebellious behavior due to the fear the SS will take it out on all of them. Where Sally grew even more comfortable in Herzog’s improved treatment, Burger continued to resent their comfortable living conditions knowing that they are just a wall away from the immense torture the other Jews are subjected to. They are bombarded with the sound of torture and imminent death of the ‘shoe testing squad’ where the prisoners have to run with shoes that are too small while carrying heavy sandbags. This juxtaposition of the conditions of the specialist prisoners involved in Operation Bernhard and all others who are treated inhumanely by prison guards. Though they too were incessantly threatened and forced to work, they were lucky in small reliefs such as the cushioned bunk beds, showers, food and the occasional cigarettes Herzog use to pacify the group. “The counterfeiters regard themselves as a cut above their fellow prisoners. The Holocaust is unfolding behind a plywood fence, and yet here they are with clean sheets on their beds and a ping-pong table in their yard” (Brooks par.2). All these things Burger resented and which Sally cherished. A pivotal scene was towards the end when the SS guards have abandoned the camp and they were left to their own devices. The appearance of the emaciated and paranoid prisoners from the other side of the wall place who took over the camp alongside them who are in good physical shape that the former could not believe they were prisoners too. One member of the mob even shouted, “Shoot them, the fat pigs” (Die Falscher) and then the moving scene of the bruised and beaten prisoners caressing the soft mattress. The following shot shows Loszek’s dead body after he commits suicide, true to the thought that he only has to survive the war to hide his defeat over his dead family. Then finally the slow movement of Sorowitsch as he carries Karloff’s body through a sea of dead men on the ground, uttering where he should take him as he comes across a man who looked straight through him evidently war shocked. Scott makes a perceptive observation that the direction of the film is unwavering in leading the audience to form an opinion of the characters and not as resolute as other holocaust movies such as “Schindler’s List” where Steven Spielberg shapes the character in such a way that there is no other way but to empathize with the protagonist. The likelihood of economic sabotage central to the film is “a looming horror that is referred to in whispers but never dragged into the light” (Scott par.3). In the end, Burger had gained the glory as he was hailed a hero by the others for delaying the reproduction of the dollar. This is of course not without a vainglorious intention toward the man whose work the entire film is based on. Burger’s efforts to sabotage their operations are not undeserving but there is also favor in Sally’s actions. What the film had consistently shown was to bring light to Sally as a main protagonist of the story. His decisions may not be of the same magnitude but it is of equal importance to the men who are directly affected and to those who were handpicked to face execution had there not been a fruitful result in counterfeiting the dollar. Keeping everyone alive was the main goal for Sally while living up to his personal principles was Burger’s primary concern. Between Burger serving as conscience of a scenario that remains to be in the realm of what if and the pounding reality of the definite death of men they know, the audience is beckoned to form an opinion and forge an affinity toward either character. It is a conception where there seems to be no right or wrong answer and each viewer’s perception on who between the two is the more fitting protagonist is an open-ended question left to our own ethical predispositions. History may have favored Burger, but those who owe their life to Sorowitsch are indebted to him. The suffering they had to go through tugs on the fiber of our humanity. We remember the characters as we have the knowledge of the reality of their fears and hardships that we may never endure the same. They have made their choices and we cannot resent them whatever they may have been. History is made up of people as heroes are but ordinary people propelled in extraordinary conditions helping shape or reshape the course of the world as we know it. Bibliography Brooks, Xan. “The Counterfeiters.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 11 Oct. 2007. Web. 1 June 2013. Cooke,Paul, and Chris Homewood. New Directions in German Cinema. By Brad Prager. London: I.B. Tauris, 2011. 76-92. Google Books. Web. 1 June 2013. Die Falscher. Dir. Stefan Ruzowitzky. Perf. Karl Markovics and August Diehl. Magnolia Filmproduktion, 2007. DVD. Fischel, Jack R. Historical Dictionary of the Holocaust: 2nd Revised Edition. Second ed. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow, 2010. Google Books. Web. 1 June 2013. Hulsmann, Jorg Guido. The Ethics of Money Production. Auburn, Ala.: Ludwig Von Mises Institute, 2008. PDF. IMDb.com. “The Counterfeiters.” IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 1 June 2013. Reimer, Robert C., and Carol J. Reimer. Historical Dictionary of Holocaust Cinema. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2012. Google Books. Web. 1 June 2013. Scott, A. O. “The Cost of Collusion, Paid in Phony Currency.” The New York Times. N.p., 22 Feb. 2008. Web. 1 June 2013. Seret, Roberta. World Affairs in Foreign Films: Getting the Global Picture. Jefferson, NC: McFarland &, 2011. Google Books. Web. 1 June 2013. Read More