It is the story of a Jew, that stepped by accident in a complicated situation. Kept into one of the many German concentration camps, he got to know that front line comes closer. A Russian advance would mean to be restored to freedom. But knowing this he has to see how his companions and friends commit suicide. So he has the chance to stop it, telling them of the news. It is alluring but unmoral, cause he has to lie. Nobody would believe him the true story, so he fakes up a radio.<br /><br />Jurek Becker created one of the most sensitive and heartbreaking plots for Holocaust films. Marcel Reich-Ranicki praised him for inventing the "principle radio". But this hollywoody holocaustic thingy can't deal the complexity. Jacob is presented as just a funny Jew, that loves his people. It does not deal with the problem of Jewish identity, which is one of the central themes. It even naively adopts stereotypes Nazis used. This adaption sacrifices density for simplicity and compatibility.<br /><br />This Movie is just an entertaining film, an audience preferring a more deep and dense plot should look the GDR production, for which Jurek Becker himself made the screenplay and earned the first and only Oscar nomination an East German film ever got.