Jakob the Liar

This article is about the 1999 film. For other uses, see Jacob the Liar (disambiguation).
Jakob the Liar

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Peter Kassovitz
Produced by Steven Haft
Marsha Garces Williams
Screenplay by Peter Kassovitz
Didier Decoin
Based on Jacob the Liar
by Jurek Becker
Starring Robin Williams
Alan Arkin
Liev Schreiber
Hannah Taylor-Gordon
Bob Balaban
Music by Edward Shearmur
Cinematography Elemér Ragályi
Edited by Claire Simpson
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
  • September 24, 1999 (1999-09-24)
Running time
 120 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget $45 million
Box office $4,956,401 (domestic)[1]

Jakob the Liar is a 1999 American drama film directed by Peter Kassovitz and starring Robin Williams, Alan Arkin, Liev Schreiber, Hannah Taylor-Gordon, and Bob Balaban. The movie is set in 1944 in a ghetto in German-occupied Poland during the Holocaust and is based on the book by Jurek Becker about World War II Jewish ghetto life. It is a remake of the East German DEFA film Jakob der Lügner from 1975.

Plot

In Poland of early 1944, a Polish-Jewish shopkeeper named Jakob is summoned to the German headquarters after being falsely accused of being out after curfew. While waiting for the commander, Jakob overhears a German radio broadcast speaking about Soviet offensives. Returned to the ghetto, Jakob shares his information with a friend, sparking rumors that there is a secret radio within the ghetto. After hesitating, Jakob decides to use the chance to spread hope throughout the ghetto by continuing to tell the optimistic, fantastic tales that he allegedly heard from "his secret radio" and his lies keep hope and humor alive among the isolated ghetto inhabitants. He also has a real secret in that he is hiding a young Jewish girl who escaped from an extermination camp deportation train.

The Gestapo learn of the mythical radio, however, and begin a search for the resistance hero who dares operate it. Jakob surrenders himself to the Germans as they demand the person with the radio give himself up or risk hostages being killed. During interrogation, Jakob tells the police commander that he had only listened to the radio inside his office. He is ordered to announce publicly that this was all a lie, so the ghetto's liquidation would then proceed in an orderly fashion. When presented to the public, Jakob refuses to tell the truth, but is shot before he can make his own speech.

In the film's ending, Jakob says, post-mortem, that all the ghetto's residents were then deported and were never seen again. As in the novel, there is an alternate fairy tale-style ending where the Soviet forces arrive following Jakob's death, just in time to save the Jews.

Cast

Reception

Produced on a budget of $45 million, Jakob the Liar was released on September 24, 1999. According to Box Office Mojo, it opened in 1,200 theaters and made $2,056,647 in its opening weekend, placing eighth at the box office. The film's total domestic gross was just $4,956,401. The response was mixed to negative, with many feeling it was not half as good as the comedy Life Is Beautiful.

The movie currently holds a rating of "rotten" on Rotten Tomatoes with only 29% positive reviews and an average rating of 4.7/10. Roger Ebert gave the film two stars (out of four), comparing it to the similarly themed Life Is Beautiful by saying, "I prefer Life Is Beautiful, which is clearly a fantasy, to Jakob the Liar, which is just as contrived and manipulative but pretends it is not." He went on to say about the acting in the film: "Williams is a talented performer who moves me in the right roles but has a weakness for the wrong ones. The screenplay and direction are lugubrious, as the characters march in their overwritten and often overacted roles toward a foregone conclusion."[2]

Robin Williams received a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Actor for his performances in Jakob the Liar and Bicentennial Man, but 'lost' to Adam Sandler, who was nominated for Big Daddy.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Jakob the Liar (1999)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-01-18.
  2. ↑ Roger Ebert's review of "Jakob the Liar"

External links

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