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The Week in Germany: Culture

February 2, 2007

German Filmmakers Turn Spotlight Onto Nation's Past

German filmmakers have worked to portray the darker side of their nation's history. This includes a string of movies exploring the events surrounding the Second World War.

Oliver Hirschbiegel's critically acclaimed "Downfall" and "Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary", from directors Andre Heller and Othmar Schmiderer, both deal with the last harrowing days in Hitler's bunker. And last year's German-language Academy Award nominee was Marc Rothemund's "Sophie Scholl-The Final Days", about two young students, Scholl and her brother, Hans, who were members of the revered White Rose resistance group during the Nazi era.

"The Counterfeiters" competes in Berlin

Now, the story of a mass counterfeit operation mounted by the Nazis during the war - Stefan Ruzowitzky's "The Counterfeiters" - will be shown as part of the main competition at this month's Berlin International Film Festival. This film delves into a bizarre plan conceived by the Nazis to undermine the Allies' economies by producing millions of worthless British and American banknotes.

To get the job done, they turn to Salomon Sorowitisch, a big-time counterfeiter and who has honed the art of producing fake money to support a less-than-salubrious life that resolves around gambling. Sorowitisch joins a small group of helpers in a fenced off area at the Sachsenhausen prison camp where they have been tasked with saving the war effort for Hitler by ruining his enemies' economies. The importance attached to the mission by the Nazis means that the counterfeiters enjoy a relatively comfortable and privileged life compared to the others detained at the camp near Berlin.

But even for small-time criminals like Sorowitisch the Nazi's counterfeiting operation presents a difficult moral dilemma. From the start it is clear to the counterfeiters that should they fail they will face certain death. If they are successful, however, they might survive. Yet this would also help the National Socialists emerge victorious from the war.

The film is based on a book by one of the counterfeiters, Adolf Burger, who is played in the movie by one of Germany's leading actors, August Diehl.

Documentaries, TV productions also tackle tough topics

The production of movies relating to wartime Germany has also coincided with a raft of TV films and documentaries tackling the same tough topics. Among the most noteworthy documentaries is "2 or 3 Things I Know About Him", directed by Malte Ludin.

Films about the former East Germany also delve into that nation's past

German filmmakers have moreover also taken on the now defunct communist East German state. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's "The Lives of Others", could even get this year's best foreign film Oscar nod. Set in East Berlin five years before the implosion of the Berlin Wall, this gripping human drama charts the lengths to which East Germany's all-intrusive security apparatus went to in its bid to control the lives of its citizens, notably "dissident" creative elites.

Also included in the main line-up for next week's Berlin Film Festival is the world premiere of Christian Petzold's "Yella", which tells the story of a young woman from the former East Germany who attempts to escape a disastrous marriage by forging a new life in western Germany. After initially discovering a special talent for the tough world of business, her communist East German past returns to haunt her. (TWIG, dpa)

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