Counterfeiters

Bea says: We have been very remiss and not blogged sooner about this film, which we saw in October, in the Odeon Mezzanine, Leicester Square. This film tells the (true) story of a gifted and celebrated Russian Jewish counterfeiter, operating in Berlin prior to and during the early years of WW2. Inevitably, he is transported to concentration camps, and in one he is drafted to lead a special project - counterfeiting US and UK currency for the German war effort. The counterfeiters get special privileges (more food, beds, a somewhat more humane environment in comparison to what they can hear going on outside their space). Those in the counterfeiting team have different moral grounds - one wants to sabotage the project to prevent Germany being able to continue to finance the war. The central character does not have these strong feelings, but does engage in some delaying tactics. This rather harrowing film is about identity and survival in a terrible situation. It brought a few things I've heard and read about, the experience of being in a concentration camp alive - being deadened to the horror all around, and feeling absolutely nothing other than an incredible sense of fear every time a guard entered. I was wriggling anxiously in my seat and closing my eyes whenever this happened; but when characters were callously shot I felt very little.

Cecil says: very good film, but 2 months after seeing it, I struggle to remember much of the story. My overriding memory is of feeling nothing all the way through: no fear, no wincing at the violence, no disgust, no sadness, just nothing. And I was able to watch all the horrific scenes without emotion. Now, Cecil is an emotional young man so this must have been a very effective technique of the film-makers in depicting the survival techniques of those camp inmates.

Rating: ***.5