DVD OF THE WEEK

THE COUNTERFEITERS *****
Dir: Stefan Ruzowitzky
Starring: Karl Markovics, August Diehl, Devid Striesow

With the Oscars upon us again on Monday it's good to reflect on the one area where the Academy very rarely get it wrong: Best Foreign Film. Of course, with only five films representing the entire non-English-speaking world, it's pretty hard to pick a bad one.
The Counterfeiters won the Best Foreign Film Oscar last year and is another part of the new wave of German cinema (Downfall being the prime example) re-examining the second world war.
Based on an apparently true story (which a couple of decades ago was the subject of a BBC drama series, Private Schultz) it follows a group of Jewish concentration camp prisoners who, because of their skills at printing, were saved from death and set to the task of forging English and American bank notes, with the plan of flooding those country's economies and ruining them financially.
At the head of this is the extraordinary rat-faced Markovics as master forger Salomon Sorowitsch, who finds himself in a position similar to that of Liam Neeson in Schindler's List, of being able to help his fellow prisoners but only by assisting the German war effort. Sallie's philosophy is 'do what you must to survive”, which leads to conflicts with a more idealistic prisoner who would rather sacrifice himself than help the Germans. Unfortunately his actions also mean sacrificing his comrades (against their wishes).
This is a film filled with moral dilemmas. It is also brilliantly scripted, acted and filmed. Highly recommended, obviously.

Frenchman Mathieu Kassovitz turned in a 160 minute cut of Babylon AD (**) for European release only to have it butchered by the Fox in the US. What remains here (yes, it says 'raw and uncut” on the box, but that just means 2 minutes extra violence) is an incoherent hour and a half of Vin Diesel escorting some girl to America (from… Russia?) in a futuristic dystopia. There are vague hints of political/religious subplots, some fine action and scenery, and an absurd ending. Actors such as Gerard Depardieu and Charlotte Rampling have been virtually excised and there are clearly gaping plot holes. Kassovitz is a fine, occasionally even great, director. He has publicly advised people to avoid the film which he now likens to a mound of faeces.

Fans of underrated cult comedy Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) will be chuffed to see War, Inc (***) which, although it doesn't ‘fess up to it and changes the character names, is clearly an unofficial sequel. This time John Cusack's wryly self-aware hit-man is sent to 'Turaqistan” (or – clearly – Iraq) where a US occupation is being run for profit by a Halliburton-like corporation headed by the ex-vice president. Joan Cusack returns as her brother's assistant and Dan Ackroyd pops up as the VP. Ultimately it's a slightly uneasy blend of sledghammer political satire, romantic comedy and action, but Cusack's assassin is so charming and oddly vulnerable that it is – again – a pleasure to spend time with him.

Suburban babysitting teen has fling with a father. He pays her extra and next minute she's working fulltime supplying her friends to local dads in The Babysitters (*). What could possibly go wrong? It's kinda tacky in a lurid cable TV low-nudity way and, after things eventually spiral out of control (surprise!), wraps up so offhandedly that the filmmakers obviously didn't care much beyond creating a good exploitation hook ('Schoolgirl Hookers on Drugs!”).

In Breathing Room (**), as in Cube, Saw 2, Fermat's Room and others, a group of seemingly unconnected people find themselves trapped (here in a warehouse) and forced to 'play” some sort of life or death 'game”. And while this variation is well filmed, with good use of stress-inducing handheld camera and lighting, and well acted, the script lacks tightness, leaving too much unexplained as to who these people are, why and by whom they are being killed, and what connects them.

Resident Evil: Degeneration (*) is an animated sequel. That ultra-realistic looking Japanese animation that they used for the film of Final Fantasy. In it the evil zombie-creating corporation has long gone and been replaced by… another evil corporation It's complete drivel of course, but I understand from fans of the zombie-killing game that this looks just like it. What more can you ask – it looks just like a game, but you can't play it.