Directed for DEFA by Frank Beyer (Trace of Stones) and adapted from the novel of the same name by Jewish author Jurek Becker, Jakob the Liar was the only East German film to ever be nominated for an Academy Award. Starring the prolific Czech actor Vlastimil Brodsky (Tomorrow I’ll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea), it follows the members of a Jewish community in German-occupied Poland.
In a Jewish ghetto, Jakob Heym (Brodsky) is ordered to report to a police station by a Nazi watchtower guard, where he overhears a radio broadcast suggesting that the Red Army is closing in on Poland. He tells friends and neighbours that the Germans might be losing the war, but they refuse to believe that he could have survived an encounter with Nazi officials. To make his story plausible, he claims to illegally possess a radio – and soon finds himself spreading false reports that he has supposedly heard on the airwaves, if only to give his community hope in the face of unimaginable horror.
One of the most powerful Holocaust films ever made, Jakob the Liar is also one of the finest films DEFA ever produced – and a significant influence on a cycle of prestigious Holocaust films produced by Hollywood in the 1990s, chiefly Peter Kassovitz’s later adaptation of Becker’s novel starring Robin Williams. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Jakob the Liar from a 4K restoration by the DEFA Foundation.
