Challenging and thought-provoking.
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10/10/07
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The Counterfeiters (2008)
94
%
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Reviews Counted:121
Fresh:114
Rotten:7
Average Rating:7.7/10
Consensus: The Counterfeiters is a gripping account of one prisoner's moral dilemma, superbly portrayed by Karl Markovics.
Theatrical Release:12-10-2007
Synopsis: Winner of the 2008 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Stefan Ruzowitzky's THE COUNTERFEITERS is the first film from Austria to ever receive that prestigious honor. Based on the memoir by... [More]
Starring: August Diehl, Karl Markovics, Devid Striesow, Dolores Chaplin
Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky
Reviews for The Counterfeiters
Top CriticAn absorbing new perspective on the moral, physical and emotional adversity faced in the concentration camps, with one of the most unusual anti-heroes, of any genre, of recent years.
10/10/07
Top CriticAn awesomely powerful movie exploring not just the day-to-day hell of life in a death camp, but also the moral quandary of helping the Third Reich win the war.
10/12/07
A very thoughtful and imaginative effort.
10/12/07
Top CriticA sharp and compelling war drama that delivers on the promise of its astonishing true-life origins.
10/10/07
Top CriticRuzowitsky’s film, austerely shot and scripted with terse wit, grants itself a licence to make art in exchange for entertaining us with a gripping story.
10/12/07
The moral implications of this scheme are so charged and turbulent that they defy neat resolution. If the film's inhabitants are walking a tightrope, it occasionally seems that that its writer-director is too.
10/12/07
Top CriticThis parable of fakery and compromise asks the most difficult question: how much would you be willing to sacrifice in the interest of your own survival? And how grateful do you feel that you will probably never have to answer it?
10/12/07
Haunting, horrible, brilliant.
10/10/07
Far more than another Holocaust drama; it's an examination of complex moral shadows that make us capable of cowardice and courage at the same time.
10/12/07
Sensibly, this never takes sides…and it proves a chilling reminder of the dilemmas faced by those placed in an impossible situation.
10/10/07
The Counterfeiters is a story that had to be told, and German director Stefan Ruzowitzky tells it plainly but well.
10/12/07
Stefan Ruzowitzky’s meshing of plot with debate is impressive. His film is compelling and clever.
10/10/07
Top CriticThis is a first-rate piece of film-making that should appeal to fans of last year’s The Lives of Others.
10/12/07
Top CriticThe Counterfeiters is anchored in Markovics’ central turn as a chilly egotist forced, for the first time, to consider others’ needs.
10/10/07
An impressively directed drama with a superb central performance from Markovics and a gripping story to tell.
11/17/07
The worst you could say is that it's memorably diverting, but as worsts go, that's a pretty damning indictment of a Holocaust movie.
03/05/08
Ruzowitzky does a fine job of capturing the claustrophia of the setting, as well as conveying the moral complexity of these characters' choices
08/07/08
The film does shed light an another facet of Nazi history, and it does it with an attention to the complexity of human nature that makes it worthy of its Oscar win.
03/06/08
... an honest effort to sound painful human depths.
04/25/08
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