Jakob the Liar is a 1999 black comedy film directed by Peter Kassovitz and starring Robin Williams, Alan Arkin, Liev Schreiber, Hannah Taylor-Gordon, and Bob Balaban.

The movie is set in 1944 in a ghetto in Poland, in the times of the Holocaust. The movie is based on the book by Jurek Becker about World War II Jewish Ghetto life. It's also a remake of the German DEFA film from 1975.

In 1944 Poland, a Jewish shop keeper named Jakob is summoned to ghetto headquarters after being caught out after curfew. While waiting for the German Kommondant, Jakob overhears a German radio broadcast about Russian troop movements. Returned to the ghetto, the shopkeeper shares his information with a friend and then rumors fly that there is a secret radio within the ghetto. Jakob uses the chance to spread hope throughout the ghetto by continuing to tell favorable tales of information from "his secret radio." Jakob, however, has a real secret in that he is hiding a young Jewish girl who escaped from a camp transport train. A rather uplifting and slightly humorous film about World War II Jewish Ghetto life. Written by Anthony Hughes

During World War II in Nazi occupied Poland, poor Jewish café owner Jakob (Robin Williams) accidentally overhears a forbidden radio news bulletin signaling Soviet military successes against German forces. To fight the incredible depression and suicide throughout the ghetto, Jakob tells fictitious news bulletins about Allied advances against the Nazis. These lies keep hope and humor alive among the ghetto inhabitants. The Germans learn of the mythical radio, however, and begin a search for the resistance hero who dares operate it. Written by Anonymous