Go see "The Counterfeiters" before it leaves theaters. I was lucky enough to do so.
This German/Austrian film, which won an Academy Award, tells the tale of a Jewish counterfeit mastermind whose craft helps him to survive the Holocaust. Operation Bernhard — the largest counterfeiting ring in history — was intended to flood the English and American economies with fake currency, and in the film, the Nazis treated Sally Sorowitsch and his fellow artists "well" in hopes they carry out the master plan. (The prisoners stalled the process long enough for the war to end.)
The characters are so masterfully developed. My favorite was the young Kolya Karloff, whose TB symptoms Sorowitsch tries in earnest to hide as it would lead to Karloff's death. Conservations between the two about art are heart-breaking as is the contrast between Sorowitsch's crook-ish side and his fatherly side.
So well acted and directed, The Counterfeiters is the best film, foreign or American, that I've seen in a long time.
— Emily