Jakob the Liar

Jakob the Liar is a 1999 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 Poland, in the times of the Holocaust. The movie is based on the book by Jurek Becker about World War II Jewish Ghetto life. It's also a remake of the German DEFA film Jakob der Lügner from 1975. In 1944 Poland, a Jewish shop keeper named Jakob is su... more

Jakob the Liar is a 1999 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 Poland, in the times of the Holocaust. The movie is based on the book by Jurek Becker about World War II Jewish Ghetto life. It's also a remake of the German DEFA film Jakob der Lügner from 1975. In 1944 Poland, a Jewish shop keeper named Jakob is summoned to ghetto headquarters after being falsely accused of being out after curfew. While waiting for the German Kommandant, 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... less