Jakob the Liar

Almost 25 years after Frank Beyer's version with Vlastimil Brodský, Peter Kassovitz took over the text by Jurek Becker and Robin Williams assumed the lead role. His Jakob the Liar is an unfortunate character somewhere in a Polish ghetto in 1944 who, by chance, gets the opportunity to become the most important man around for a few precious moments. Through the initially innocent misinformation about the news at the front, Jakob becomes the leader of the entire ghetto and the center of the hopes of all the individuals who die alongside him. Robin Williams also took on the role of producer, giving audiences a contrasting substance to the more mass-market film with a similar message to Robert Benigni's Life is Beautiful (1997), which had reigned just prior. (04/01/2012)

I mainly give this film points because of Robin Williams, as he simply can carry a film like this. The story isn't bad, but you kind of get the feeling that this is just a retread. Yes, the Second World War had terrible suffering, and this story is portrayed humanly, but The Book Thief had a much greater impact on me, even though the theme and approach were similar. (05/03/2015)