Jakob the Liar │ Eureka Entertainment
Courtesy of Eureka Entertainment
by JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Released on Blu-Ray for the first time in the UK, distributed as a part of Eureka’s The Masters of Cinema series, Jakob the Liar has been restored by the Defa Foundation in a new 4K print. And it looks astonishing, even though originally released in 1974, when it was nominated for a best foreign language film Oscar, the only East German production to be so honoured. It is based on the novel by Jurek Becker, who wrote it based on an anecdote heard by his father following the latter’s time in the Łódź ghetto in Poland. The film begins with the caption ‘The Tale of Jakob the Liar is not True. Honest. But Maybe it is true after all.’ This makes sense when one realises that the film is all about lying – or deception – hence the title.
Jakob Heym (Vlastimil Brodský) was a former café owner who, being Jewish, was forced to live in the ghetto with his lifelong friends, under the strict eye of the Nazi occupiers. Forced to give up most of his worldly belongings, including his watch, Jakob survives on a starvation diet with very little in the way of distraction. Then, one night he is caught in the glare of a German spotlight and told that he has broken the curfew, which begins at eight. But, without a watch, it’s hard to ever know what the time is. The so-called “just punishment” for breaking the curfew is execution and Jakob is forced to report to the military office, which is forbidden to be entered by a Jew. Then two things happen when, reluctantly, Jakob enters these premises = one) he realises that it is only 7:30 in the evening, and two) he overhears a news report on the radio that the Russians – the good guys – have occupied a nearby city. As Jakob hasn’t actually broken the curfew, he is released and scuttles through the back streets back to his room, holding the good news close to his chest. Of course, he has to be careful who he tells, as it could inevitably lead to trouble, but he can’t resist informing his colleague Mischa (Henry Hübchen) in the freight yard where he works hauling crates and sacks onto a cattle wagon. In barely no time at all, the news has infiltrated every crevice of the ghetto and a new mood permeates the quarter. Seeing the effect this has on his comrades, and the sudden cessation of suicides, Jakob pretends he has hidden away a radio and starts to disseminate false news to elevate the spirits of those around him.
There is much humour in all this which, inevitably, being a comic take on the Holocaust, recalls the Oscar-winning comedy-drama Life is Beautiful, directed by and starring Roberto Benigni, which came along 23 years later. The Czech actor Vlastimil Brodský, who won the Silver Bear at Berlin for his role, brings a rumpled dignity to Jakob, and the film is starkly unsentimental in its treatment of these persecuted people. Another comparison with Life is Beautiful is the relationship Jakob has with a young child, in this instance, a little girl, Lina, marvellously played by Manuela Simon, who has the face of an angel and becomes transfixed by the magic of an oil lamp which she suspects might be the forbidden radio. Unlike so many more recent war films, Jakob the Liar exerts its drama through the deprivation of its characters, rather than from glorifying in the violence inflicted on them, thereby mining the humanity in these people clinging onto to every crumb of Jakob’s good news. The book was remade by Hollywood in 1999 with Robin Williams in the title role, which was both a commercial and critical flop – all the more reason to seek out this East German original. And, of course, all the extras – in particular a study of Holocaust cinema by the academic Sue Vice – are a genuine bonus.
Eureka Entertainment’s release of ‘Jakob the Liar’ is now available on Blu-ray
EUREKA ENTERTAINMENT is the leading independent distributor of classic silent/early films in the UK. In 2004, Eureka! established the award winning Masters of Cinema Series, a specially curated director-led Blu-ray and DVD collection of classic and world cinema using the finest available materials for home viewing. In 2014, Eureka! established Eureka! Classics intended to highlight a broader selection of classic and cult cinema, and in 2017, Eureka! established Montage Pictures, a label celebrating ground-breaking and thought-provoking world cinema from new and upcoming directors.
