Germany seems to be producing a wealth of quality drama at the moment, the latest being a lean, urgent piece based on a real-life Second World War story. Adapted from a book by a Holocaust survivor, Adolf Burger, The Counterfeiters tells the story of a top-secret Nazi operation which siphoned off concentration camp detainees and put them to work forging currency. The lucky few were fed well and kept in comparative comfort, but the price of endurance was a weighty case of survivors’ guilt, coupled with the knowledge that their lives had been bought by betraying their own – by helping the Nazi war effort.

When we meet the central character, Salomon Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics), it doesn’t seem that he’s the kind of man who might be plagued by a bad conscience. He’s a weasel-faced career criminal with a taste for the most dissolute fleshpots that Berlin has to offer. His wits and his talent as a counterfeiter keep him alive; his own survival is his primary concern. Salomon’s character arc is the spine of the film; it’s a testament to Markovics’s impressive performance that this very flawed man is so fascinating. This is a first-rate piece of film-making that should appeal to fans of last year’s The Lives of Others.

15, 98mins

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