Movie No. 69 (2013): JAKOB THE LIAR
Jakob The Liar (1975)
Director: Frank Beyer
Cast: Vlastimil Brodsky, Erwin Geschonneck, Armin Mueller-Stahl
In German, with English subtitles
The year is 1944. In a Nazi-controlled Jewish Ghetto in an unnamed place in Eastern Europe, Jakob Heym weaves a lie to give hope to his suffering neighbors and friends. He lies about the coming of the Russians, their only hope. He lies about having a radio where he gets news. This causes a stir among the Jews in the Ghetto and results in tragic consequences.
Director: Frank Beyer
Cast: Vlastimil Brodsky, Erwin Geschonneck, Armin Mueller-Stahl
In German, with English subtitles
The year is 1944. In a Nazi-controlled Jewish Ghetto in an unnamed place in Eastern Europe, Jakob Heym weaves a lie to give hope to his suffering neighbors and friends. He lies about the coming of the Russians, their only hope. He lies about having a radio where he gets news. This causes a stir among the Jews in the Ghetto and results in tragic consequences.
While some people who saw the film labeled it as drama-comedy, I didn't see the comedy part of it. The scenes that are supposedly comic are hard to watch. I can't even call it black comedy. For me it is a bleak drama, period. And I'm not saying it's not good. I've seen a lot of films about (or related) to Holocaust. The kind of morality play it brandishes makes the film almost unique.
The film was nominated in the 1977 Academy Awards as Best Foreign Language Film (for films exhibited in 1976).
Rating: 3.5/4.0
Date seen: March 30, 2013
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