Jakob the Liar (16 September 1999)
directed by Peter Kassovitz
starring Robin Williams, Hannah Taylor-Gordon, Alan Arkin, Mark Margolis, Liev Schreiber, Armin Mueller-Stahl
|
MPAA rating: Studio: TriStar Pictures Script: Peter Kassovitz Based on the book by: Jurek Becker Music: Ed Shearmur Running time: 114 minutes Tags: Comedy; Drama; Germany; ghetto; Holocaust; Jews; novel adaptation; Poland; war; World War II Tactical strength: [6/10]
|
for violence and disturbing images
In the spirit of Life is Beautiful, Jakob the Liar attempts to show how people will draw hope even while in the most desperate situations. The Jews in the Warsaw ghetto have almost no news from outside the ghetto wall. Thus, when Jakob (Robin Williams) sees a page of newspaper blow over the wall, he chases it. The newspaper eludes him (in a scene that can only bring up images of the floating feather in Forrest Gump), and German guard sends Jakob to see the city manager for violating curfew.
In the manager's office, Jakob hears a radio report that the Russian army has invaded Poland and taken a city only a few hundred kilometers from Warsaw. Once Jakob gets back to the ghetto, Jakob shares the news with his friend in the strictest confidence. Of course, the news spreads, and the entire ghetto believes that Jakob has somehow hidden a radio from the Germans. This misunderstanding becomes the main source of jokes for most of the film.
Jakob must decide whether to let his friends continue to believe in the radio or to tell the truth. When Jakob tries to deny having a radio, no one believes him, so he makes up stories about reports he has heard.
Kassovitz does a good job demonstrating the complexities of human relationships under the strain of war and imprisonment in the ghetto. At several points, it seemed that Robin Williams had to hold back a much funnier line than the ones provided by the script, but perhaps Kassovitz felt the lines needed to honor Becker's dialog from the novel. Also, the music starts out as quaint and appropriate, but gets monotonous. Although, at times I thought that silence, rather than music, would have recreated a more realistic representation of the ghetto.
Worth seeing once, but it won't loose much in the transition to home video.
Related Items from Amazon.com
  VHS [Full screen] |   Paperback |
