the counterfeiters

I just got back from seeing The Counterfeiters in Encino. It's the Austrian film nominated for an Oscar, and the only nominee for the foreign film category I will have seen going into tomorrow's ceremony (and you bet your ass I'm watching; this is my Super Bowl!). If you remember, I saw the frontrunners for the category (4 Months... and Persepolis) during my winter break movie marathon, but they didn't make the final cut (not even the 8-member shortlist, which I'm fine with too). I think this movie is far superior to both of them anyway.

If you're not familiar with it, it's based on the true story of Jewish inmates in a concentration camp forging the pound sterling and dollar for the losing, bankrupt Nazis. It's the world's largest known counterfeit operation. For the record, I was likely the only person in the theater (which drew a sizeable crowd despite its lack of press on the scale of the two movies I mentioned above) that was born after the events of this film take place. That did not diminish the emotional weight the film bore on me. I cried at several different intervals. It was wholly gripping and depicted a very complex situation and the moral struggles involved in survival under the most inhuman conditions (though the counterfeiters were actually treated really well). Go see it. Even though I haven't seen the other films, I'm routing for this one tomorrow. (And let's face it, concentration camp and WWII movies in general due well at the Oscars.)