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Jakob the Liar is very similar to Life is Beautiful
but it just doesn’t hold up as well. It's based on a similar
idea in that we have a Jewish man named Jakob (Robin Williams)
who makes up stories in the ghetto to keep people happy, particularly
a young girl. It certainly has good intentions, but fails to really
be engaging or affecting.
It all starts when Jakob gets himself in trouble and ends up in
a German officers’ office. When there, he hears that the
Russians are advancing on a radio and returns to the ghetto and
tells some people. News spreads and people believe he has a radio
hidden with him. Given that the news spares a man from committing
suicide, Jakob is unable to tell the people that he doesn’t
have a radio and continues to make up news about the Russians
advancing. He also happens upon Lina (Hannah Taylor Gordon), a
young girl who has lost her parents. Jakob takes care of her and
tells her stories from the radio to keep her alive.
The whole idea of people being encouraged by hope is a nice one.
That someone would make a sacrifice to instill that hope is an
even nicer one. It just feels a bit contrived in Jakob the
Liar. With the exception of a few characters who get really
excited, we don’t see how this information really affects
the people on a whole. Unlike Life is Beautiful, we really
don’t feel anything as the news is passed along, and we
aren’t uplifted any by the whispers. The film spends a lot
of time with a side story of Kowalsky (Bob Balaban) and his family
in-law, including his father in-law to be, Max Frankfurter (Alan
Arkin). But aside from their involvement with Jakob, their story
never leads anywhere except to be one of the examples of the aroused
hope.
The ending is slightly affecting, though predictable. The basic
problem with the film is that we simply aren’t enthralled
or engaged in their world. It doesn’t help that the whole
atmosphere feels like we’re in a studio set made up to look
like a ghetto instead of actually being in a ghetto. We’re
just observing a story rather than taking part in it. Nevertheless,
it is a generally good story. It’s a story that reminds
us of times when such a hope was needed – and the immense
value of hope at all times.
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