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Plot to destroy British pound

by Kelly Jane Torrance
March 21, 2008

Countless films have been made about the Holocaust. It's one of those defining but inexplicable events we go over again and again, hoping finally to understand.

Surprisingly, though, it seems there are still Holocaust stories to be told.

The story of Operation Bernhard, for example, until now was explored only in a BBC miniseries. "The Counterfeiters" ("Die Faelscher") is the first feature film — and straight drama — to tell the tale of the largest counterfeiting operation in history.

The Austrian film, written and directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky, won the Oscar this year for best foreign-language film. It's hard not to make a moving film about the Holocaust. Mr. Ruzowitzky, though, also has made a fascinating and fresh one.

"The Counterfeiters" opens in Monte Carlo. The war has just ended and a man, who doesn't utter a word, pays cash for his hotel room, his new tuxedo and his stacks of gambling chips.

His stoic success catches the eye of the most beautiful woman in the casino. In his room later, they undress, and she sees the number tattooed on his arm. He still doesn't speak.

The next day, he's back in the casino, and when he's offered a bottle of champagne, the image seamlessly changes to a champagne bottle in a bar in 1936 Berlin.

The man, we discover, is Salomon "Sally" Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics), "the most charming scoundrel in all Berlin." He's a talented artist but prefers to try perfecting the dollar rather than the human form. "Why make money by making art?" he asks. "Earning money by making money is a lot easier."

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