The Counterfeiters

It's a little known fact that Blitz-battered Blighty faced a threat that could have been more devastating than the waves of Luftwaffe bombers streaming across the Channel.

In 1941, Nazi chief Heinrich Himmler hatched a plot to destroy Britain's already ravaged economy by flooding it with millions of counterfeit banknotes.

What makes the story all the more bizarre is the team of forgers were a handpicked group of Jewish prisoners placed in a special counterfeiting section in Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

Austrian director Stefan Ruzowitzky continues the recent noble trend of German film-making that has given us the likes of Downfall and Sophie Scholl - The Final Days.

We follow the fortunes of Jewish bon viveur "Sally" Sorowitsch (Markovics) - "the most charming scoundrel in Berlin" - from his arrest and incarceration in Malthausen death camp to his selection for what became known as Operation Bernard.

He runs the swindling unit with a seedy dignity, protecting a Russian prisoner who has no counterfeiting skills while meeting the Germans' vicious demands for dodgy currency.

Although Sachsenhausen was notorious for the levels of brutality shown to its prisoners, the counterfeiters enjoyed a level of comfort unheard of by their fellow inmates.

(So pleased was their relatively decent SS commander that he bought them a ping pong table when even the Bank of England were fooled by their forgeries.)

What distinguishes this sombrely-told story is its acknowledgement of the forger's dilemma - how far should you go to save your own skin when you know your complicity could mean the deaths of others?

Sorowitsch is constantly reminded of the horrors occurring beyond the wire - in one heart-wrenching scene a forger takes delivery of a box containing the passports of his gassed children.

Yet he still insists the team continue their work as it ensures their survival, a policy challenged by a political agitator who sees their efforts as collaboration.

Sensibly, this never takes sides…and it proves a chilling reminder of the dilemmas faced by those placed in an impossible situation.

There's nothing phoney about it.

Tim Evans