The 2007 Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film, The Counterfeiters is a well acted, strikingly photographed war drama rooted in palpably difficult human choices and emotions. Written and directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky (The Inheritors, All the Queen’s Men), the film centers around the true story of Salomon “Sally” Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics, below), a swindler who during World War II made a name for himself as Berlin’s “King of the Counterfeiters.”

Sorowitsch’s life of women and easy money is cut short when he’s arrested and
placed in a Nazi concentration camp. With the German army on the verge
of bankruptcy, he’s offered a sobering deal by his captors: in
exchange for a comfortable bed, good food and reasonably fair
treatment, Sorowitsch, along with a number of other hand-picked
specialists, must counterfeit bank notes to fund the Nazi war effort.
If he does as they say, he lives another day. If he rebels, he faces
the same fate as the rest of the camp’s prisoners.

Sorowitsch yields quickly, and goes along to get along. The British pound is cracked without much trouble, giving the Nazis hope in their plan to flood the British economy with phony notes. The American dollar, the real prize, is a much harder task. Still, even though he starts to seemingly purposefully drag his feet a bit, Sorowitsch keeps working on the project, and his acquiesance rankles the dissenting Adolf Burger (August Diehl), a fellow prisoner who starts to subtly, habitually sabotage the finalizing ink trays for the task.

With his gaunt, hangdog visage, Markovics is an arresting screen presence, and Ruzowitzky knows how to locate the small details (one of the more moving scenes involves a father finding his children’s passports in a stack of detritus used to forge and re-purpose documents) that give depth and shading to the grand-scale tragedy that forms the movie’s backdrop. Sorowitsch’s relationship with Friedrich Herzog (Devid Striesow) — the Nazi who first arrests him, and then later comes to oversee his counterfeit operations — is also an interesting, complicated thing. One scene finds Herzog taking his prisoner home to meet his family, positioning himself as a bureaucrat who on a certain level realizes not only the abject cruelty of the camps at large but also the absurdity of his task. When the tables are turned and Friedrich is put in a subordinate position, we come to see manifested the true nature of Sorowitsch’s character.

Housed in a regular plastic Amray case, The Counterfeiters comes to DVD with one of the best produced, most robust slate of supplemental extras of any foreign language title this year. An audio commentary track with director Ruzowitzky kicks off the special features, and it’s a rich, anecdote-laden affair; the filmmaker talks about being in Paris for a screenwriters conference and meeting Dolores Chaplin, granddaughter of screen legend Charlie, at a party, and then remembering her when casting a bit part for his movie, of a woman Salomon beds before he gets arrested and hauled away to a concentration camp.

Four deleted scenes and a 10-minute, full screen making-of featurette are also included, and these are not without their charms. The best bonus feature, though, might well be the 20-minute featurette detailing the authentic historical artifacts of Salomon Smolianoff, the real-life figure upon whom the character of Sorowitsch is based. Morally substantial, subtitle-optioned interviews with actor Markovics, the real-life counterfeiter Burger and director Ruzowitzky each run in the 16- to 20-minute range; also included is a Q&A session with Ruzowitzky from the movie’s presentation at AFI Fest in 2007. Rounding things out is rehearsal footage, the movie’s trailer, and previews for David Mamet’s Redbelt and other Sony titles. The only strike on this title, a minor mitigating detail, comes in the form of the movie’s transfer, which — perhaps owing to its roots, and less exacting standards of storage — is a bit marred by grain. For a clip from the film, click here. Meanwhile, to purchase the DVD via Amazon, click here. A- (Movie) A- (Disc)

Jennifer Carpenter called her shot. During an interview with the actress for a piece on The Exorcism of Emily Rose, she talked about how stoked she was to have been cast in Dexter, opposite Michael C. Hall, how she thought the Showtime series had a chance to break some new narrative ground on the small screen, and definitely hang around several seasons. For a lot of up-and-coming actresses, these cheery sentiments are just part of the amiable self-sell — talking up the next project in case the one on the front burner doesn’t really come to a boil — but Carpenter seemed uniquely sincere in her sentiments regarding the series, which at that time was just getting off the ground.

With good reason, it turns out. Based on Jeff Lindsay novel’s Darkly Dreaming Dexter, and developed for television by James Manos, Jr., Dexter has turned into a solid performer for Showtime — so much so that it was nabbed for reruns over the past year on CBS, a corporate bedfellow. The show’s first season introduced Dexter Morgan (Hall), a Miami forensics expert who moonlights as a serial slayer of other habitual murderers. Naturally, this line of work shades, strains and otherwise complicates Dexter’s relationships — including with his cop sister Deborah (Carpenter), his single-mom girlfriend Rita Bennett (Julie Benz), and department colleagues Sergeant James Doakes (Erik King) and Lieutenant Maria Maguerta (Lauren Velez).

After Dexter having survived an encounter with the Ice Truck Killer, who also terrorized Deborah, at the end of the previous season, the series’ sophomore effort opens with more unwanted attention being focused on his acts. The flashbacks to Dexter’s childhood, intermittently filling in the gaps of his psychological and emotional development, continue, though it’s also worth pointing out that a lot of the heavy lifting is done by Hall, who nicely walks the tightrope between outright monster and sympathetic moral equalizer. There’s a cerebal quality to Hall that greatly benefits this character, serving as counterpoint for some of his brash actions.

Over the dozen episodes of season two, Dexter also begins to doubt his murderous capabilities, or at least their shelf-life. Although still committed to carrying out his brand of twisted vigilante justice — a methodology learned from and channeled by his adopted father Harry (James Remar) — Dexter continues to be haunted by his tortured past, including the brutal murder of his mother. His difficulties multiply when evidence of his deadly after-hours activities begins to surface, and the FBI, in the form of Special Agent Frank Lundy (Keith Carradine), is brought in to investigate the city’s new serial killer, dubbed the Bay Harbor Butcher. Hard-charging Sergeant Doakes has suspicions as well, and mysterious ex-meth addict Lila (Jaime Murray), a rehab pal who forges a quick and seemingly deep bond with Dexter, only further complicates matters. With the noose of suspicion seemingly tightening around his neck, will Dexter be able to continue his serial-killing ways or will his dark, extreme ways finally be uncovered?

Spread out over four discs housed in two slimline cases in turn stored in a nice cardboard slipcover, Dexter: The Second Season comes presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, with Dolby digital 2.0 stereo and Dolby digital 5.1 surround sound English language audio tracks, and a complementary Spanish language track in Dolby digital 2.0 mono. For better or worse, most of the set’s DVD bonus materials actually throw a spotlight on other Showtime shows. There are two episodes of the series Brotherhood, the first two episodes from the second season of The Tudors, and the pilot of Californication, starring David Duchovny. From a marketing standpoint, these are smart inclusions, and certainly worthy for the average television fan, who may not have premium pay-cable, and would want to dabble before purchasing an entire season on DVD. Unfortunately, their inclusion somewhat limits the amount of material related specifically to Dexter, which consists of a podcast interview with Hall. Some director audio commentaries or an interview with source material author Lindsay would be most welcome in the future. To purchase the set via Amazon, click here. B (Series) C+ (Disc)