over the year and i have find robin williams to be one of the most frustrating actor around . clearly load with talent and in my opinion at least most of his movie have be disappointment . he either give unnecessarily over the top performance that really do not fit the context and or he control his natural comedic instinct to the point at which he come across a uninspired . so i wasn not sure what to expect in jakob the liar . what i find be a surprisingly good performance in a wonderful movie . williams play jakob heym and confine to the jewish ghetto of warsaw by the nazi during the second world war . with hope fading and heym accidentally discover that russian troop aren not far away and and begin to spread the news . others become convinced that he have a radio hidden and and heym fictional news report from the bbc provide enough hope to keep the resident of the ghetto go through this dark time . williams ( also executive producer ) do a fine job a heym . a one would expect and his character come across a something of a comedian ( i believe be god choose people while i just wish he have choose someone else . ) but his humour be appropriate while the sort of dark humour one would expect from people in this situation . the other performance fade into the background and not because they be bad but because williams so dominate the movie . special mention should go to justus von dohnanyi and though and who play the nazi commandant preuss . dohnanyi manage to capture exactly the sort of slimy and inhuman character one would expect to be put in charge of such a business . the rest of the cast ( primarily hannah taylor gordon a lina and liev schreiber a mischa ) be good and but overshadow by williams . the character of kirschbaum ( play by armin mueller stahl ) fill me with sadness and represent a clear statement of the evil of nazism . a world famous cardiologist and kirschbaum and because he be jewish and be forbid to practice medicine and and end up clean toilet . mueller stahl play the character with a quiet dignity and and next to williams be the clear highlight of the movie . this movie represent a wonderful testimony to the importance of hope in help people see themselves through what must seem to be impossible situation . although fictional and it be an important movie for those with an interest in the event of this era . positive .