Jakob the Liar (1999)

During World War II, an ordinary inhabitant of a ghetto fakes news about Allied offensives to inspire hope for other victims of the Nazi regime.

Director:

Peter Kassovitz

Writers:

Jurek Becker (novel), Peter Kassovitz (screenplay)

Stars:

Robin Williams, Hannah Taylor Gordon, Éva Igó

2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robin Williams	...	Jakob
Hannah Taylor Gordon	...	Lina
Éva Igó	...	Lina's Mother (as Eva Igo)
István Bálint	...	Lina's Father (as Istvan Balint)
Justus von Dohnányi	...	Preuss
Kathleen Gati	...	Hooker
Bob Balaban	...	Kowalsky
Alan Arkin	...	Frankfurter
Michael Jeter	...	Avron
Mark Margolis	...	Fajngold
János Gosztonyi	...	Samuel (as Janos Gosztonyi)
Liev Schreiber	...	Mischa
Armin Mueller-Stahl	...	Kirschbaum
Ádám Rajhona	...	The Whistler (as Adam Rajhona)
Antal Leisen	...	Peg-Leg

Storyline

In 1944 Poland, a Jewish shop keeper named Jakob is summoned to ghetto headquarters after being caught out near curfew. While waiting for the German Kommondant, Jakob overhears a German radio broadcast about Russian troop movements. Returned to the ghetto, the shopkeeper shares his information with a friend and then rumors fly that there is a secret radio within the ghetto. Jakob uses the chance to spread hope throughout the ghetto by continuing to tell favorable tales of information from "his secret radio." Jakob, however, has a real secret in that he is hiding a young Jewish girl who escaped from a camp transport train. A rather uplifting and slightly humorous film about World War II Jewish Ghetto life.

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Plot Keywords:

based on novel | character name as title | three word title | jacob the liar character | ghetto | 

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Taglines:

He will make you believe.

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence and disturbing images

Details

Country:

France Hungary USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 September 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Una señal de esperanza

Filming Locations:

Poland

Box Office

Budget:

$45,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,056,647, 26 September 1999, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$4,956,401, 31 October 1999

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Blue Wolf Productions, Kasso Inc. Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SDDS

Color:

Color (Rankcolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Nina Siemaszko's father was actually incarcerated in the Nazi concentration camp of Sachsenhausen during WWII.

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Goofs

The movie is set in Poland (hence the Polish-languaged signs on buildings, eg Jakob's café), but 'Mischa' is a Russian name (a diminutive form of 'Mikhail'/'Mikal' ('Michael').

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Quotes

[first lines]
Jakob Heym: Hitler goes to a fortune-teller and asks, "When will I die?" And the fortune-teller replies, "On a Jewish holiday." Hitler then asks, "How do you know that?" And she replies, "Any day you die will be a Jewish holiday."

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Crazy Credits

Special thanks to the city and peoples of Piotrków, Poland, the city and peoples of Lódz, Poland and the city and peoples of Budapest, Hungary.

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: Double Jeopardy/Jakob the Liar/Mumford (1999)

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Soundtracks

Gestillte Sehnsucht, Op. 91, NR 1
Written by Johannes Brahms
Performed by Marjana Lipovsek
Courtesy of Sony Classical
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

Engrossing tale of hope kept alive in a wartime Jewish ghetto

Personally, I found very touching & heart wrenching this story of one man's efforts to lift spirits in a World War II Jewish ghetto in Poland. Many have compared it to Life is Beautiful, and there are some similarities. I can understand why some viewers take offense at any film which might seem to trivialize the Holocaust, but I found Life is Beautiful not disrespectful but deeply moving, and consider this particular tale to be a captivating depiction of one individual's unique attempt to keep hope alive in a desperate situation.

The story revolves around a lonely Polish shopkeeper & widower, Jakob, who is confined to a Jewish ghetto in 1944. When summoned to ghetto headquarters for being out after curfew, he hears a radio report about Russian troop movements. To prevent a friend's suicide, he claims to have heard on his radio that the Russians are very close (within a few hundred kilometers) and will liberate the ghetto soon, causing rumours that Jakob has a secret radio. Instead of telling the truth, he tries to lift spirits and impart hope to the war weary & depressed ghetto inhabitants by maintaining the fiction of possessing this radio, and regularly disseminating uplifting fictional news bulletins about the Allies' progress. Meanwhile, Jakob is also hiding a young Jewish girl who escaped from a camp transport. The Germans hear reports of this forbidden radio and are seeking out the resistance operator of it.

Robin Williams dominates this movie and is brilliant as usual in the endearing, sympathetic role of the kind Jakob who must try to balance getting out lots of hopeful (if fictitious) war reports to keep spirits up while at the same time avoid Nazi suspicion and detection.

The movie portrays the despair of the ghetto's inhabitants and the grave injustice of their captive state. For example, Jewish people are prohibited from practicing medicine and a cardiologist is reduced to cleaning toilets, though does so with good humour, grace, and dignity. On the whole it is a very poignant tale, with any humour having a sad note to it. Jakob the Liar shows another tragic aspect of the Holocaust. Rather than the horrors of the concentration camps that are often the setting of such stories, here we see the injustice and despair of prolonged ghetto captivity.