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At The Movies
HOPE AMID DESPAIR
from page 81
The latest Holocaust-themed entry,
Jakob The Liar, opens today. Based on
the novel of the same name by Jurek
Becker, the film stars Oscar-winner
Robin Williams as Jakob Heym, a poor
Jew living in a Polish ghetto during
World War II. In an effort to boost the
morale of his fellow prisoners, Heym
takes to the airwaves, broadcasting ficti-
tious radio bulletins detailing Allied
advances against the Nazis.
Like Williams' character in Good
Morning, Vietnam, his upbeat radio per-
sona brings hope and humor to his lis-
teners. But eventually, the Germans set
out to put a stop to his unconventional
resistance activities.
"The script had a certain power to
it," says Williams. "It went back and
forth between being very funny and very
tragic and very brutal within moments."
Filming took place in the Polish town
of Piotrkow. Though the ghetto in the
film is never specifically identified, Jurek
Becker grew up in Lodz, a town with a
population of 200,000 Jews before the
war. Today, less than 100 Jews remain in
the city.
Director Peter Kassovitz, who was
raised in Budapest during the occupa-
tion, took great pains to re-create the
scenes as realistically as possible. The
crew also shot on location at the site of
the Budapest ghetto, just blocks from
where the office of Adolf Eichmann
once stood.
Williams, who is not Jewish, spoke to
survivors to try to get a feel for their
experiences and shared memories. One
survivor told the actor that the impris-
oned Jews would often tell jokes in
order to keep their spirits up. "How you
go on in the face of [the atrocities] is
with anything you have, everything at
your power, and humor is part of it,"
Williams said. "It's weird to think of
people still having a sense of humor in
the face of that, but they did. Amid peo-
ple committing suicide and getting shot
if they went near the gate, they would
still have concerts and productions and
all these different things."
Hundreds of extras were employed,
each outfitted in tattered garments
emblazoned with a six-pointed yellow
star — designated garb for Jews during
the war.
"The moment you put on that coat
with the Star of David, there's a certain
gravity to that. It's not your costume
anymore," Williams said. 'This is power-
ful stuff because it talks about a painful,
awful time in human history" TI
Dina Fuchs is entertainment editor of
our sister paper the Atlanta Jewish
Times.
9/24
1999
84 Detroit Jewish News
"It's weird to think of
people still having a sense
of humor in the face of
[the Holocaust],
but they did."
War games: Robin
Williams stars in
`Jakob The Liar"
as a Jewish cafe
owner who brings
smiles to Polish
ghetto residents
during, the Nazi
reign of terror.
— Robin Williams
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Jakob (Robin Williams, right) with Dr.
Kirschbaum (Armin-Mueller-Stahl, center)
and Kowalski the barber (Bob Balaban),
fellow members of a fictionalized Polish ghetto.
`Jakob The Liar': A Review
CURT SCHLEIER
Special to the Jewish News
akob the Liar, rated PG-13, is a
well-intentioned film with its
heart in the right place.
But as Samuel Johnson
noted, hell is paved with good inten-
tions.
While Robin Williams' new movie
won't be relegated to Hades, it's not
going to be placed in the Hollywood
pantheon of first-rate motion pictures
either. It suffers a litany of problems.
Individually they are mostly minor,
often just scenes here and there that
don't ring true. But cumulatively they
bring down a movie that should have
viewers soaring.
Jakob Heym (Williams), a secular
Jew, lives in a Polish ghetto during
the war. One evening he's sent to the
police commandant's office to be
punished for a supposed curfew vio-
lation. The office is empty, and while
he awaits the top cop's return, he
overhears a news report that Russian
IT
troops are not too far off.
While Jacob survives the en-
counter, he doesn't know what to do
with this important information. It's
too important to keep to himself, but
too dangerous to reveal. If he tells
people where he heard the news, he
risks being branded a collaborator.
The only Jews who ever leave the
police station alive are collaborators.
If he suggests he's the owner of an
illegal radio, he's subject to execution.
When a friend, a boxer named
Mischa (Liev Schreiber), proposes a
foolhardy plot, Heym has no choice.
He cautions his friend against it.
"Don't take risks. The Allies will soon
be here." How does he know? "I
heard it on the radio." He says little
more.
But Mischa tells members of his
girlfriend's extended family. They in
turn tell other people in the ghetto
community. By the next day, Heym is
the town hero. With salvation so
near, the populace begins to find
hope.
There is a small bounce to their
collective steps. Suicides decline.
People press for more details.
Seeing what he wrought, Heym at
first declines to participate further in
the ruse. He says it was a mistake. He
has no radio. But when he sees the
optimism his words generate, he
begins to make things up.
"Benny Goodman and the Andrew
Sisters have landed on the Continent
and will soon be entertaining." The
cheer is palpable.
Or it should be.
Part of what's missing is a sense of
what's happening in the town from
the viewpoint of the Jews trapped
there: There's no sense of the gut-
wrenching horror that was, so it is
difficult to comprehend how or why
this slim thread of hope suddenly
changes the people's lives.
Jakob the Liar demands an ensem-
ble, nobodies willing to share the
screen. But despite the success of
numerous small and independent
films of late, it's still much easier to