Jakob The Liar

Synopsis: In 1944 Poland, a Jewish shop keeper named Jakob is summoned to ghetto headquarters after being caught out near curfew. While waiting for the German Kommondant, 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 girl who escaped from a camp transport train. A rather uplifting and slightly humorous film about World War II Jewish Ghetto life.

Genre: Drama, War

Director(s): Peter Kassovitz

Actors: Robin Williams, Hannah Taylor Gordon, Éva Igó, István Bálint

Production: TriStar Pictures

2 wins & 3 nominations.


IMDB:: 6.5
Metacritic:: 40
Rotten Tomatoes:: 29%

Collection Edit Watch PDF Buy

: PG-13
Year:: 1999
: 120 min
: Website
: 98 Views

Hitler goes to|a fortuneteller and asks:
"When will I die?"
And the fortuneteller replies:
"On a Jewish holiday. "
Hitler then asks,|"How do you know that?"
And she replies:
"Any day you die|will be a Jewish holiday. "
So you ask me, as a Jew:
"How could you tell a joke like that|at a time like that?"
That's how we survived.
Those were some of the things|that kept us going.
Everything else,|the Germans had taken.
They built high walls with|barbed wire to shut us in the ghetto.
We were isolated from the rest|of the world for years without news.
So we relied on the little things:
A dark joke.
A sunny day.
A hopeful rumour.
That's why we'd go|and sit by the ghetto wall...
...and look at the tree|where I first kissed Hannah.
And it was by that wall|that it all started.
With a single sheet of newspaper.
No! It's too dangerous!
Where can she go?
Run, liebele. Run!
Be safe. Go, go, go!
DarIing!
We'II see you soon!|We Iove you, Lina!
HaIt!
What are you doing there?|Trying to escape from the ghetto?
Name!
Jakob Heym.
Don't you know it's punishabIe|by death for a Jew...
...to be in the streets after curfew?
You're right.|Of course you're right.
One hundred percent correct.
I don't think|the siren went off yet.
A smart Jew! Go over there!
Present yourseIf|to the officer on duty...
...and teII him|you were out after 8!
But it's not 8.
Are you arguing?
Go!
This is the radio of|the German Armed Forces Network.
HeiI, HitIer!
We will now broadcast|a special bulletin.
During a hard-fought|defensive battle...
...heroic troops of the Fatherland,|under General von Hartung...
...succeeded in driving back|the Russian forces near Bezanika.
Bezanika is a very strategic point|of this sector.
We will now broadcast a message|from our Fhrer.
Bezanika.
The Russians are there,|onIy 400 kiIometres away.
My God!|They're in PoIand.
What are you doing here?
The sentry sent me to Your RoyaIness|for my proper punishment.
AIthough I hadn't heard the siren,|and with due respect...
...if his watch is right,|then your cIock is wrong.
But that is for you to decide.
Decide?
What?
My appropriate punishment.
Even though, I take the Iiberty|of repeating myseIf:
It's not yet quite 8:00.
It stiII isn't 8:00.|It's onIy three minutes to 8.
Two minutes to 8.
Then the gentIeman, the sentry,|was just making fun of me.
Just because there's a war...
...peopIe shouIdn't stop joking|with one another.
May I?
We Jews are partiaI to jokes too.
Do you Iive far from here?
Ten minutes, if I run.
Then hurry.
PIease may I have a pass?
Now what do I do, Hannah?|I'm Iocked outside.
Gotta keep going.
It's crazy, Hannah.
I may be the onIy Jew|for 400 kiIometres...
...trying to get|back into the ghetto.
To get across that distance,|you have to be a mouse.
Oh, God of the Jews!
Why didn't you make your peopIe|a race of mice?
I ask you quite frankIy:|What good does it do to be a man?
I'm going.
I go.
Not yet!
Wait for the searchIight to go by.
-Who are you?|-Lina Kronstein.
I'm 10 1I2. How oId are you?
Watch out!
What are you doing here, anyway?|Trying to escape?
Where? A Jew wouId not Iast|five minutes out there.
So you're going back in?
Yes.
May I come with you?
With me?
Why me?
Who eIse?
AII right.
Come on.
Oh, wait! Wait!
You're scared?
No. Terrified.
Come on! This way!
-Here.|-Thank you, IittIe mouse.
Hide! PoIice!
Here!
Bye-bye, IittIe girI.
Thanks for saving my Iife.
You'II have to excuse me.
I'm very tired. I'm going home.|You shouId do the same.
Maybe I'II take the tram.
Bye-bye.
AII right.
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