By ROBERT WALDMAN, Vancouver

War can bring out the best in people. Set in the 1930s, The Counterfeiters is a tense tale of struggle and survival from Sony Pictures Classics now shining brightly at Tinseltown (on Pender, free parking). Once again Germany shows its true colours and mettle as a sensational filmmaking center with this movie from writer/director Stefan Ruzowitsky a clear front-runner for best foreign film this year. Right in the tradition of The Lives of Others The Counterfeiters serves to open eyes to the ultimate war machine and human tragedy.

                Told in a very smart flashback style that goes full circle the title of this movie truly bears fruit. Back in the 30s Jewish businessman Saloman Sorowitsch was the toast of a very exclusive community. Known to be a master artist the savvy gent took a fondness to duplicating government documents and the like. Thievery never felt so good as Saloman enjoyed quite the elaborate lifestyle despite his people slowly being overrun by the Nazis.

                During the mid 30s no one was immune from the German war machine and 1936 saw this opportunist captured by the SS and taken to a concentration camp. Reputation can save a man’s life and just like the tradition exemplified during Schindler’s List our ace counterfeiter got a new lease on life – if you can call it that.

                Thanks to one time Gestapo agent Sturmbann Fuhrer Friedrich Herzog something sinister is afoot. To help with the war effort Himmler and co. cook up some bizarre scheme to flood Britain with phony money. Under strict control Saloman’s talents do not go wasted as a team of Jewish prisoners goes about printing pounds sterling while their captors look on.

Harsh, real and highly emotional, the Counterfeiters is a dynamic tale of greed, corruption and ultimate salvation all told behind closed doors. Just a horrific claustrophobic atmosphere of life inside the most heinous of jails comes to fruition here as we witness the degradation displayed against the Jews by their evil overlords.

Whether true friendship can endure amidst all this controlled chaos is the big question as we see these

 undergo continual stress while wrestling with their consciences.

Karl Markovics is terrific as Saloman Sorowitch, a rather misunderstood prisoner seemingly out for himself despite the tragedy closing in on him and the other prisoners. 

Terrible times breed horrible figures with the German presence here being contemptible. Pure evil springs out of the on screen talents of Martin Brambach as an evil captor with David Strieson pulling off a great performance as the camp commandant whose use of the carrot instead of the stick is quite telling.

                Expect 98 minutes of tense excitement throughout The Counterfeiters a magnificent tale of men under the gun fighting for their lives and souls. Add on a vibrant and haunting musical score to these painful memories and you can’t help but feel for the plight of these concentration camp residents whose only crime was their religious beliefs.

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