A man like Job
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | A man like Job |
| Original title | The fixer |
| Country of production | Great Britain |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1968 |
| length | 130 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | John Frankenheimer |
| script | Dalton Trumbo |
| production | Edward Lewis |
| music | Maurice Jarre |
| camera | Marcel Grignon |
| cut | Henry Berman |
| occupation | |
| |
A Man Like Job is a British drama from 1968 based on the novel of the same name by Bernard Malamud and based on a true story.
action
In tsarist Russia , the studied but poor Yakov Bok is left by his wife Raisl. Yakov travels to Kiev and pretends to be a non-Jew, since it is the time of the pogroms against the Jews . He gets a job as an assistant to the alcoholic anti-Semite Lebedev. Yakov has to fight off the seduction attempts of Lebedev's daughter Zinaida, who accuses him of rape when he does not respond. Despite this allegation, Yakov is promoted to the supervisor at Lebedev's factory.
Yakov attracts foreman Proshko's displeasure and is also constantly confronted with annoying street boys in his neighborhood. When one of the boys is brutally murdered, the population believes in a ritual murder perpetrated by Jews. Yakov is identified as a Jew, arrested, and charged with murder , although there is no evidence. The lawyer Bibikov is the only one who believes in Yakov's innocence. He is convinced that arresting a Jew as a murder suspect will favor the pogroms against the Jews and that this is supported by the government.
Bibikov considers the mother's friend to be the real murderer. As he intensifies his investigations, it is decided that his death will look like a suicide. While in custody, Yakov is subjected to constant humiliation and torture. The case is also becoming known outside of Russia, so that the tsar is forced to hold a lawful trial. Yakov appears at the trial three years after his imprisonment. He has become a hero for the people.
criticism
The lexicon of international films describes the film as an "expressive, moving adaptation of a novel that describes the ordeal of a person fighting for his rights; occasionally applied a bit thick and relying on superficial effects. Sometimes the film gets lost in the naturalistic painting of tsarist Russia."
Renata Adler of the New York Times found it inappropriate to apply Trump's sentimental Hollywood formula to the real drama that characterized the 20th century.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times noted that a historical event is one thing and a film about that event is another. Frankenheimer did not meet the challenge of turning his film into a moral statement. The film creates its own reality only to a very limited extent, but draws its strength and emotions from the raw material of the events on which it is based. The viewer is not moved by what he sees, but by his conclusions.
Awards
In 1969 Alan Bates was nominated for an Oscar in the category of Best Actor .
The film was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Drama , Dalton Trumbo for Best Screenplay and Hugh Griffith for Best Supporting Actor. Here too, Alan Bates received a nomination for best actor
background
The film premiered on December 8, 1968. In Germany, the film was shown for the first time on March 13, 1987 on ZDF .
Bernard Malamud's novel describes the story of the Jew Menachem Mendel Beilis, who was charged with the murder of a 12-year-old boy in 1911. The circumstances of the arrest became known internationally as the Beilis affair .
The production of the British MGM studios was shot in Hungary.
Web links
- A man like Job in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ A man like Job. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film Service , accessed January 23, 2011 .
- ↑ Critique of the New York Times (Eng.)
- ↑ Critique of the Chicago Sun-Times (Eng.)