For a long time Germany shied away from tackling the most painful era in its history on the big screen. But with the cushion of several decades between now and the war years, German filmmakers are confidently tackling the nazi period as the memorable Der Untergang (Downfall), about Hitler's last days in the bunker, and this strong German/Austrian concentration camp drama reveal.

The Counterfeiters (Die Fälscher) is based on a true story of how, during the latter part of the war, the Nazis tried to swamp Britain and the US with counterfeit money produced by concentration camp victims.

Realizing that they were bankrupt and losing, the Germans rounded up a group of experts from the worlds of finance, printing and counterfeiting, and in return for better living conditions and a semblance of security, they set them the task of creating perfect copies of the pound and dollar for them.

Specifically, the film focuses on a criminal fraudster, Salomon Sorowitsch (well played by Karl Markovics), who is recognized by his Nazi captor Herzog as "the best counterfeiter in the world." "Sally" is a self-serving survivalist. He lives by his wits and uses his talent to trade up his position to camp artist instead of being worked to death breaking rocks on the road.

He is later moved to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where Herzog, who is now commandant, gives him the job of heading up a team of counterfeiters in a separate block of the compound. The team is given special treatment, but tension builds as their work nears completion and struggles ensue among them about whether they should do the Nazis' dirty work to survive a little longer.

The intransigent idealism of collotypist, Adolf Burger, whose book "The Devil's Workshop" the film is based on, contrasts sharply with Sally's brutal pragmatism - his primary goal is survival. For Burger the cost - possibly thousands of Allied lives - is too high.

Performances are universally high and Austrian screenwriter/director Stefan Ruzowitzky does a good job of conveying indirectly the horrors and stress of the situation within the camp.