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Die
Fälscher (2007)
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Director:
Stefan
Ruzowitzky |
COUNTRY
Austria/Germany |
GENRE
Drama/War |
INTERNATIONAL
TITLE
The
Counterfeiters |
NORWEGIAN
TITLE
Falskmyntnerne i Sachsenhausen |
RUNNING
TIME
98
minutes |
|
Producer:
Josef Aichholzer
Nina Bohlmann
Babette Schröder |
Screenwriter (based on a book by Adolf Burger):
Stefan
Ruzowitzky |
Review
Die Fälscher is
another entry in the wave of Nazi-era films to surface in Germany over
the last five years. And like many of the others, this film by Stefan
Ruzowitzky treats even the simplest relation and the most remote
character with absolute respect and not one hint of bias. This is a film
interested in human destinies and mental strength, and only scarcely
politics. In this respect, Die Fälscher has more in common with
Sophie
Scholl - Die Letzten Tage than with for instance
Der Untergang,
but filmatically, Die Fälscher is even more restricted than
Sophie Scholl - taking form more as a stage play with very few
location shifts and very intimate character relations.
This leaves a lot of
responsibility to the actors and the subtlety of the storytelling. The
former is impressive, with the incredibly talented Devid Stiesow (Napola)
revelling as Sturmbannführer Herzog. The latter is the film's little
stroke of genius. Ruzowitzky's understated account of the horrors of war
makes a lasting impression. Like our protagonists, we're never subjected
to these horrors, but we feel them lurking just around the corner. They
know that one single misstep will crush them, still they are determined
to find ways to intercept, because unlike their fellow camp prisoners,
these guys have been well-fed enough to keep their morale and resistance
up.
The ideologies and
politics are heavily downplayed, or rather ignored in Die Fälscher.
Like Herzog says: He once was a communist, and he might as well still
have been - his objective is to keep himself afloat. Through
Ruzowitzky's insightful direction, we understand that the German
officers and soldiers and the Jewish camp prisoners in many ways were in
the same situation: Forced to comply with a despicable ideology and to
renounce their personal integrity. The difference, of course, was that
the Jews suffered during the war, whereas the German officers suffered
when it was over.
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