Thursday, February 07, 2008

Die Fälscher

Väärentäjä / Förfalskaren. AT / DE (c) 2007 Aichholzer Filmproduktion / Magnolia Filmproduktion. P: Josef Aichholzer, Nina Bohlmann, Babette Schröder. D+SC: Stefan Ruzowitzky - based on the book Des Teufels Werkstatt (1951) by Adolf Burger. In cooperation with Adolf Burger. DP: Benedict Neuenfels - shot in Super 16mm - 35mm blowup - 1:1,85. Starring: Karl Markovics (Salomon Sorowitsch), August Diehl (Adolf Burger), Devid Striesow (Sturmbannführer Friedrich Herzog), Martin Brambach (Hauptscharführer Holst), August Zirner (Dr. Klinger), Veit Stübner (Atze), Sebastian Urzendowsky (Kolya Karloff). 98 min. Released in Finland by Nordisk, Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Petra Honkala / Joanna Erkkilä. Viewed at Kinopalatsi 6, Helsinki, 6 Feb 2008. Based on the true story of the world's greatest forgery plan, Operation Bernhard, with the cooperation of Adolf Burger. The Nazis tried to collapse world economy by a huge and ingenious forgery industry, for instance printing counterfeit British pounds and U.S. dollars. The workers were concentration camp slaves who had to work at the risk of their lives. Apparently the protagonist Salomon Sorowitsch is fictive: a Jewish criminal from the Berlin underworld who has to endure 10 years of concentration camps and is saved from Auschwitz to Sachsenhausen because he is the genius of the counterfeiters, even admired by Nazis, to his dismay. A fascinating story, intelligently told. Drab digital intermediate look.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Burger
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Bernhard

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