There has been a really good run of European films in the last year or two and yesterday I went to see another one: The Counterfeiters.
Set in a German concentration camp during the second world war it tells the story of a group of Jewish prisoners who, because of certain skills and talents, are made to work on producing counterfeit money and documents for the Nazis.
They are kept separate and almost in secret from the rest of the camp.
But while they are treated relatively well with comfortable beds and clothing, given enough to eat and music to listen to while they work, the horror experienced by the unseen inmates on the other side of the wooden fence is never far away. And the precarious nature of their essentially privileged position is a presence that can't be taken for granted.
The central theme is survival and how they reconcile their own treatment with what is happening beyond the fence. Should survival be at any cost?
There are some wonderful moments and, naturally, some harrowing ones. It was both an interesting and thought provoking film.