It is shortly after the end of the war. A
man sits on the beach in glamorous Monte Carlo, the
gamblers' paradise. It is Salomon Sorowitsch, 45, who wears
a shabby, threadbare suit, but carries a suitcase full of
money. We can see a concentration camp number tattooed on
his arm.
Flashback: Berlin, 1936. Sorowitsch, the King of
Counterfeiters, moves in a world of swindlers, gigolos and
easy women. For him, life is a game for which you need money
– and the money he needs, he prints himself. With a solid
portion of pragmatism and an even greater portion of
creativity, he manages to stay on the
bright – and safe – side of life. But perhaps it only seems
like it... For the smile of the lovely Aglaia keeps him in
Berlin one night too many. The next morning he is arrested
by Inspector Herzog. Just like many other "professional
criminals," Sorowitsch is sent off to a concentration camp.
He soon realizes that Mauthausen is not a normal prison.
There, prisoners are systematically killed. Relying on his
survival instinct and his artistic skills, Sorowitsch
becomes the personal artist of the SS. Then he is
transferred to Sachsenhausen, where he is welcomed by an
"old acquaintance": Herzog, who has now been promoted and
heads a special secret commando. In two barracks rigorously
separated from the rest of the camp, counterfeit money is to
be produced on a grand scale. The Nazis need cash!
Considering the situation in the camp, the conditions in the
"Golden Cage" are nearly heavenly: clean, well-organized
workshops with background music, soft beds, good food...
Herzog wants to motivate his men with good treatment and get
the maximum performance out of his handpicked specialists.
One thing is clear, however: if the work does not lead to
success, the workers will be sent to the gas chamber. "What
a shame that would be!", says Herzog with a twinkle in his
eye. Sorowitsch and his fellow inmates experience the
horrors of the concentration camp only indirectly, such as
when they find the name cards of the Jews who have been
gassed in the nice suits they are allowed to wear. And from
behind the wooden planks, they hear the screams of the
tortured. Sorowitsch does what he always does: he looks away
when nothing can be changed. Thanks to his skill, he
actually does succeed in producing perfect pound notes.
Herzog is very satisfied and gives his counterfeiters a
reward: a ping-pong table! "We finance the Nazis' war with
our fake money," hisses Sorowitsch’s friend Burger, and
begins to sabotage their work. Soon, idealism clashes with
pragmatism. On one side is Sorowitsch with his policy of
small, opportune steps, of survival one day at a time, also
in order to obtain life-saving medicine for fellow prisoner
Kolya, who is suffering from tuberculosis. On the other side
is Burger with his constant sabotaging and his secret plans
for revolt. When Kolya is killed by a guard with a shot to
the head, Sorowitsch realizes that his attempt to come to
terms with evil has failed. The end of the war saves the
lives of the imprisoned counterfeiters. Overnight, the Nazis
flee from the concentration camp. The gate to freedom is
open – but it leads the privileged prisoners of the printing
shop past the nightmare of the rest of the camp. The other
survivors can hardly grasp that these well-dressed, well-fed
people are fellow prisoners. Sorowitsch is finally forced to
look, even though – or perhaps precisely because –
everything is over. What he sees are starving, tortured
victims who are barely recognizable as human beings, and who
wander aimlessly about mountains of corpses.
Monte Carlo. Sorowitsch takes his place at the game table
one last time. He
intentionally loses his entire counterfeit money and goes to
sit on the beach, as at the beginning. "You 'ad ze bad
luck?", asks his high-class French callgirl. And
Sorowitsch smiles.
© Sony Pictures Classics. All
rights reserved
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