This Austrian-German drama directed by Stefan Ruzowitzy won the 2007 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for its fictionalized story of Nazi Germany’s secret “Operation Bernhard,” which aimed to destabilize the economy of the United Kingdom by flooding it with forged British pound notes. After they arrest him for counterfeiting passports, Salomon Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics) is forced to forge British currency for the Nazi regime. The stakes are raised as his fellow counterfeiters devise a plan to sabotage the Nazis’ plans. Based on a memoir by Adolf Burger, a Slovak Jewish typographer depicted in the film by August Diehl, The Counterfeiters is an historical drama of profound moral complexity. 98 min.
Part of the Emory Cinematheque series “Resisting Fascism.” Each film in the series will be introduced by Paul Buchholz, assistant professor of German Studies, with contributions from other faculty in Emory’s Department of German Studies.