Lies My Father Told Me

Set in a vibrant but almost ghetto-like Jewish neighbourhood in Montreal in the 1920s, the film’s focus is a 6-year-old Orthodox boy, David Herman (Jeffrey Lynas). His grandfather is a wizened old junk dealer (Yossi Yadin), who travels through the neighbourhood on a horse-drawn cart selling rags, bottles, and other odds and ends. He’s also the only person who pays any attention to the lonely young boy who he treats like a friend and equal, instead of a nuisance. David is devastated when his grandfather dies in this sensitive and perceptive drama. While it would be easy to think this is nothing more than screenwriter Ted Allan’s trip down memory lane, there is much more at work in what is a delightful and often funny adaptation of Allan’s original story. Look for Allan who makes an appearance in the film. Fine performances by the entire cast along with an accurate recreation of old Montreal make this film an excellent time capsule of a time and era long gone. Chosen as Best Film at the Canadian Film Awards in 1976, Lies My Father Told Me was the final feature made by famed Czech director, Ján Kadár.

The Lobby Card above and the US movie poster were scanned from originals in the Northernstars Collection.