KATE WINSLET famously proclaimed in Ricky Gervais' Extras that any film about the Holocaust is virtually guaranteed a gaggle of shiny gongs come awards season.
And yep, The Counterfeiters did in fact gobble up a golden Oscar for best foreign language film at this year's ceremony.
But forget the cynics, cos this brave, gripping and thrilling movie deserves every accolade going – and much more besides.
With a title like The Counterfeiters, you'd think writer/director Stefan Ruzowitzky would be serving up a jaunty crime caper, in which a Peter Seller-esk forger races around Europe, always one step ahead of Fritz.
In fact, the opening minutes would suggest that very film.
Location: Monte Carlo. Check.
Briefcase stacked with crisp banknotes. Check.
Protagonist Salomon ‘Sally' Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics) hitting the tables and striking gold. Check.
Ending the night with some gorgeous floozy. Check.
Yet something is not right with this picture. For one, the anti-hero is completely silent and distant, sagging where there should be swagger.
Soon the key to his incongruous impassivity is revealed with a set of numbers tattooed on his forearm.
Based on the non-fiction book The Devil's Workshop, the original title certainly paints a more sombre image and, arguably, does chime better with the story.
Told in flashback, it centres on a group of concentration camp inmates spared the gas chamber as long as they forge sterling and dollars for their Nazi oppressors.
In fact, the title could even be mistaken for a horror, which isn't entirely inappropriate.
Yet, despite the setting, Ruzowitzky's movie does play more like an adventure movie.
And it's a move that pays off big time, lifting the film above so many of a similar standing.
Rather than tainting the material with irreverence, his decision gives The Counterfeiters a robust dramatic drive and thrilling pace.
Sally, rendered with a suave charm and stiletto-edged ruthlessness by Markovics, has to balance his own instinct for survival with the moral conundrum of the forgers' situation.
The better their work, the more they help the Nazis; the worse job they do, the more likely they are to see the inside of the gas chamber.
Meanwhile, they all know that their time will run out: once they pull off the big scam-the almighty dollar-they'll be surplus to Nazi requirements.
What Ruzowitzky therefore achieves is remarkable.
A balanced and thoughtful movie that always respects the harsh reality in which it is firmly rooted.
The Counterfeiters is now available on DVD.
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