Fast, FREE delivery, video streaming, music, and much more. This may be a fictional accounting, however, that isn't the point here, is it? I would hope that this movie would remind us all, that this sort of thing can happen again, if the lesson is not learned. Good narrative, excellent cinematography, and some stunning background music. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 18, 2016. Filmmakers with the chutzpah to tackle the holocaust always have to tread along some pretty slippery ground. Jakob Heym (Robin Williams in overbearingly earnest mode) gets tangled in a string of self-perpetuating lies about a hidden radio, supposedly broadcasting news that the victorious Red Army is nearing. Please try again. Filmmakers with the chutzpah to tackle the holocaust always have to tread along some pretty slippery ground. In addition to "Schindler's List," of course, two other successful films come to mind: the 1965 Czech masterpiece, "The Shop on Main Street," and the beautiful 1983 Hungarian film, "The Revolt of Job." How to love the tragedy Robbin Williams in his very serious role . Jakob the Liar (1999) In 1944 Poland, a Jewish shop keeper named Jakob is summoned to ghetto headquarters after being caught out near curfew. I agree this is a good way to introduce the younger generation to a very dark, and shameful time in our history. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 20, 2017. We sometimes suffer from phony Holocaust propaganda but let's try to see beyond inside the case story and intent, where suffering of people is absurd experience as Westbank Crossing for Palestinians, un-necessary experience of ppoverty and dominance . however this movie has managed to overcome the facts of historical events so as not to seem like a documentary or just another holocaust film. There are humanity issues in Jacob the Liar that the reader must deal with, such as the Germans treating the Jews as sub-human or moral dilemmas that Jacob suffers because he is lying about the radio on one hand and on the other hand he knows that his lying is giving people hope. In order to navigate out of this carousel, please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading. It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness. I’m Canadian. Or anyone who has experienced something like this at any time in their lives; no matter where they are in the World! ].A good film with some decent acting.I didn't expect the ending----obviously not going to say! Ships from and sold by Green Street Books-Employment for Adults with Special Needs. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. These lies keep hope and humor alive among the ghetto inhabitants, spirits are lifted, hearts are refreshed, and optimism is reborn. I agree this is a good way to introduce the younger generation to a very dark, and shameful time in our history. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. An unforgettable tale of everyday heroism and the extraordinary power of illusion among Europe's Jews during the Holocaust "that has never been surpassed" (Times Literary Supplement). Great Movie . I only came across this film by chance, I'd never heard of it. I only came across this film by chance, I'd never heard of it. The film is set in 1944 in a ghetto in German-occupied Poland during the Holocaust and tells the story of a Polish-Jewish shopkeeper named Jakob Heym who attempts to raise the morale inside the ghetto by sharing encouraging rumors that he claims he has heard on a radio. To combat the overwhelming depression and suicide that pervades the ghetto, Jakob invents fictitious news bulletins about Allied advances against the Nazis. The guy is brilliant. While waiting for the German Kommondant, Jakob overhears a German radio broadcast about Russian troop movements. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in. Absolutely brilliant film! Returned to the ghetto, the shopkeeper shares his information with a friend and then rumors fly that there is a secret radio within … In order to navigate out of this carousel, please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading. Moral issues on the movie of Jakob the liar? His desperate attempts to convince a clutch of insistently idiosyncratic friends (clichés to a man: Liev Schreiber, Bob Balaban, Michael Jeter, Alan Arkin) and obligatory Nazi bad guys that the radio doesn't exist are complicated by the fact that he's stashed a fugitive kid (a dead ringer--sorry!--for Anne Frank) in his attic--and by abundant evidence that lies are the best medicine for the ghetto's skyrocketing suicide rate.