Jakob the Liar (1974) – Film Review

Director: Frank Beyer
Cast: Vlastimil Brodský, Reimar J. Baur, Armin Mueller-Stahl
Certificate: 12

By Sarah Morgan

If you think Jakob the Liar is merely a 1999 Hollywood vehicle for Robin Williams, you’re very much mistaken.

The funnyman did indeed appear in a version of it, but it was a remake of an acclaimed East German movie originally released in 1974.

“Key figure”

Here the central character is played by Vlastimil Brodský, a Czech actor who appeared in more than 100 films and is widely regarded as a key figure in the development of his nation’s post-war cinema.

He’s highly watchable as Jakob, a once prosperous Jewish businessman now living in a ghetto with his young niece and carrying out forced labour in German-occupied Poland. After being caught outside after curfew, he’s ordered to report to a police station, where the laidback officer on duty treats him with leniency and, to his surprise, sends him on his way without punishment.

But while awaiting his fate, Jakob overhears a radio broadcast that seems to suggest that the Soviet Red Army isn’t far away. To prevent a colleague from committing a suicidal act, Jakob tells him what he’s heard; knowing nobody would believe he was released without punishment by a Nazi, he claims he heard the news on an illegal radio in his lodgings.

The information spreads like wildfire, so Jakob continues to offer ‘bulletins’ to his fellow residents in a bid to give them hope as the horror of their situation and what the future may hold looms large.

“Brilliant performances”

Based on a book by Jurek Becker, who co-wrote the screenplay with director Frank Beyer, Jakob the Liar is the only East German film to be nominated for an Oscar; it lost to the French-Ivorian Black and White in Colour. It was also one of only a handful of Holocaust-set movies from the nation to depict this appalling historical era with accuracy.

For that alone it’s well worth seeing, but add in the brilliant performances from a host of actors who remain largely unknown (I only recognised supporting cast member Armin Mueller-Stahl due to his appearances in Eastern Promises, Shine and the Jakob the Liar remake), compelling plot and heartrending ending, and you have a must-see movie.

Highlights among the special features are a 1958 East German documentary about Anne Frank and a new visual essay about Holocaust cinema from Jewish studies scholar Sue Vice.

Roger Crow( Writer )

Adopted Yorkshireman Roger Crow developed a passion for film and TV in the 1970s and 1980s. He has been a published film and TV reviewer since the 1990s; a world travel and restaurant critic since the noughties, and for the past decade has assessed the pros and cons of live gigs and theatre productions around the UK. His ideal day would involve reviewing a performance of Bat Out of Hell, followed by a Pad Thai while being serenaded by Texas on a cruise around Europe.
crowsfeat.com; nostalgiahhh film podcast

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