FILM REVIEW: The cost of collusion, paid in phony currency

Concentration camp inmates face terrible choices in ‘The Counterfeiters,’ winner of the 2008 Oscar for best foreign-language picture

By A. O. Scott / NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE , NEW YORK

I suppose that is a built-in dilemma of the Holocaust movie as a genre. Filmmakers either try to take the full, horrible measure of the subject, at the risk of overwhelming or alienating a modern audience, or else, in trying to make the story bearable, they subvert its truth. The Counterfeiters, in the manner of its flawed, fascinating hero, tries in good faith to navigate this ethically treacherous ground. That it succeeds more than it fails owes something to Ruzowitsky’s skill and good sense, and even more to his lead actor’s instinct and conviction.

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