Writer-director Stefan Ruzowitzky's (Tempo, The Inheritors) holocaust drama tells the true story of Salomon Sorowitsch, an expert counterfeiter arrested and sent to a concentration camp. Salomon survives though his artistic talent, by sketching flattering portraits of officers in charge.

From there, Salomon gets sent to another camp where his counterfeiting talents are put to the use of serving the German war effort, producing fake currency and documents along with other talented prisoners with printing skills. The option, the firing squad or the chance to live in relative comfort, yards away from other prisoners being decimated by the awful conditions.

It's an extraordinary story. Karl Markovics fits the part of Sorowitsch well, with his weather-beaten face that of a survivor, the sort who would have the know-how to keep out of harm's way and use nouse to stay alive.

There's also an element of humour which may seem surprising in such a harrowing study, but that's because you get to read Sorowitsch's hard character so quickly, and get an idea of what he may be thinking and the choices he must make.

The scenes are authentic - painfully so, including a memorable scene in the showers. The film reveals the dilemma faced by the prisoners, between wanting to produce money to keep themselves alive, but also needing to find devious ways to hinder the German war effort. There's also a fascinating moral dilemma between prisoners who were former bank managers and others who are former villains as if that counts for anything when they're supposed to be on the same side.

The director could have followed the story a little further beyond where it ends - he doesn't deviate markedly from what happened, but it would have been interesting if the wider populace could have known how this true story ended. Facts over the end credits or just a continuation of the story would have been rewarding. The ending as given is good enough though, and this is still a remarkable story deftly handled by Stefan Ruzowitsky.