THE MOVIE

Jakob Heym (Robin Williams) is a Jew in Nazi occupied Poland. He is accidentally caught out at curfew on night, and while waiting for his punishment, over hears a radio in the German headquarters give out information about the advancing Russian army. Jakob hesitantly tells others this information and soon they’re asking for updates in hope of some more good news. Although radios are forbidden by the Nazis, hopes are raised because everyone believes Jacob has one. Concerned that the rumours will get back to the Germans and get him killed, but facing increasing pressure to keep supplying news to people desperate for a chance at survival, Jakob starts faking the news to keep hope alive.

This film was faced with a lot of issues when made. Although the story was written before the Roberto Benigni film Life is Beautiful, it was inevitably compared to it as a movie made following its success. But this film isn’t played as heavily for laughs. Still, director Peter Kassovitch admits to its vaudevillian style in his commentary, and this was a clear influence for Williams infusing the story with a massively toned down version of his humour, which was encouraged by survivors of the war involved in the making of the film. Still, I don’t believe Williams is able to carry the film, and perhaps is partially responsible for the direction the story took. Had the story played up the more serious aspects and used a better dramatic actor, it may have worked better. Still, he is supported with an able cast such as Liev Schreiber, Alan Arkin and Armin Mueller-Stahl, who lend an air of dignity to the proceedings.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

A very good transfer from Columbia Tristar. The picture is nicely detailed, though sometimes minimally grainy. In this case the grain works well, bringing an air of authenticity to the textures of the decaying stone buildings and rough woven clothing. I noticed some very minor colour banding early on in one of the interior scenes, but it didn’t appear to arise again. The dark tones and shadows have a good dynamic range except when the image deliberately calls for higher contrast levels. Skin tones and colours generally are slightly undersaturated-but never unnatural-in keeping with the style of the film. Edge detail is right on the mark without any haloing visible. In fact, I would guess that the overall picture transfer is a relatively perfect conversion and that most defects could be attributed to the original footage.

Audio:

This is a fairly uneventful soundtrack, though capably handled. The sound is rich and warm. There is some use for the LFE when trains, planes or tanks are shown coming in or out of the picture, and a little ambience presented through the surrounds. Panning is minimal, with the bias definitely on the centre channel. Dialogue is clear, though it sometimes pays to listen closely due to the thick accents and whispered tones.

THE EXTRAS

Audio commentary: Director Peter Kassovitz tells us about the making of the film. Interesting to note how he considers the story could be described as vaudeville. This itself gives some insight to understanding the style in which he made it. More or less describes how he feels about certain scenes and without too much background info to make it a technical guide.

Theatrical Trailers: One for Jacob the Liar and another Robin Williams, Awakenings.

Making of Featurette: Standard presentation. Too little information, too short.

Talent Profiles: Don’t waste your time. They clearly didn’t.

Isolated Music Soundtrack: I have to say that I find isolated soundtracks are a fairly good inclusion. I work from home a bit and it’s nice to be able to play them in the background while I work. They are kind of like a movie for the ears.

Overall, I think that the Collectors Edition moniker is being thrown about a little too easily these days. It is looking too much like a marketing ploy, rather than an honest indicator for the buyer. I don’t consider this a bad set of extras, but it’s far from a genuine collectors edition.

SUMMARY

Asides from any problems I have with Robin Williams and his viability as a serious actor, this isn’t a bad movie. It also isn’t great. I guess “it’s o.k.” is the best way to put it. It never received a theatrical release in this country as far as I know, and never did very well overseas. It’s not too hard to see why. Following on the footsteps of Life is Beautiful would have been torturous for any similar film, especially ones dealing with these topics. If you are a Robin Williams fan, get it-if you’re not, then save it for rental one day.