03/28/06 Everything Is Illuminated

Everything Is Illuminated (2005), directed by Liev Schreiber

watched w/ Leslie; DVD rental (Netflix) @ home

Based on the Jonathan Safran Foer novel of the same name, the story posits Elijah Wood in the author's role of a young Jewish American man who travels to the Ukraine in search of the past and the truth surrounding his recently deceased grandfather's life. A man who escaped the Nazi invasion of his small Ukrainian village in the 1940's, leaving behind his love & unborn child to a terrible unknown fate, his grandfather had lived his life amongst unspeakable secrets. The young Jonathan also carries a quirk about him, where to cling to his memories of the past, he literally saves mementos in plastic bags and pins them to his bedroom wall...a sort of odd personal timeline. He takes it upon himself to head to the Ukraine, hire a personal translator/tour guide in order to find the now defunct village. His translator Alex is young local man influenced heavily by American hip-hop culture, and travelling with his weary grandfather. The film is charged with all of these quirky characters, that show in many forms Jonathan's obsessive habits, Alex's broken urban English, and the grandfather's "seeing-eye bitch (a.k.a. dog)" Sammy Davis Jr. Jr. Yes, aptly named after ol' glass-eye himself. The tale is one of adventure, cultural comparison, humor, heart-breaking realization, and heart-warming redemption. Upon finding the woman who they have all searched for, closure is brought to a very sore subject in a small way. The movie is so compelling that it was touching to see how the characters grew together, despite cultural differences. I'm surprised too at first time director Liev Schreiber, who did very well. Oh yeah, and the actor who played Ukrainian Alex, is none other than Eugene Hutz, better known as the frontman for gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello (whose tunes can be heard faintly in the background of the film). Start wearing purple, wearing purple.

4 out of 5 stars