Everything Is Illuminated (2005)

Based on the critically-acclaimed novel by Jonathan Safran Foer "Everything is Illuminated" tells the story of a young man's quest to find the woman who saved his grandfather in a small Ukrainian town that was wiped off the map by the Nazi invasion. What starts out as a journey to piece together one family's story under absurd circumstances turns into a meaningful journey with a powerful series of revelations -- the importance of remembrance the perilous nature of secrets the legacy of the Holocaust and the meaning of friendship.Running Time: 105 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 012569593428 Manufacturer No: 59342 Product Description

Inspiring

This DVD is based on the book by JSF. This is a movie you will appreciate if you appreciate art and detail. It's not a summer blockbuster for sure. The movie carefully takes you through the story and you feel like you are walking alongside the characters. It's a great story and the actors do a great job in their roles. I recommend this movie especially if you have been to Eastern Europe for any length of time. September 17, 2008

Surprisingly good

Everything Is Illuminated was a surprise 2002 hit novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, which was a thinly veiled fictional account of his 1999 trip to Ukraine to research his Jewish roots during World War Two. The young author, only twenty-five at the book's release, elicits a widely divergent critical range of opinion- from hyperbolic praise by established hack writers like Joyce Carol Oates, to outright condemnation by young, unpublished hacks who resent his two book, half a million dollar publishing deal.
Never having heard of the writer before, and never having read his work, I had no idea of all this when I picked up the 2005 film version of his book, starring ex-Hobbit Elijah Woof as Foer, and directed by actor Liev Schreiber, his first time behind the camera. What I saw was a truly great, but little, film. More than being simply great, though, the film is, by far, the best fictional film ever made about Jewish suffering during the Final Solution of the Nazi reign of terror in Europe, during World War Two. It achieves this apogee with a deft mix of comedy and drama that is reminiscent of the best of Charlie Chaplin, yet shorn of the worst elements of that Master's sentimentality.
How much of this is due to Foer's book, and how much due to the sterling script, penned by Schreiber, I do not know, but the acting is nothing short of spectacular, all around, starting with Wood as Jonathan. He is an obsessive collector, because he fears forgetting his past, and puts all sorts of things in plastic bags. Yet the space for his recently deceased grandfather is bare. All he has of him is a piece of jewelry and an old photo with a woman who hid his grandfather from the Nazis that his grandmother gives him. Jonathan decides to travel to Odessa, Ukraine to find the woman, thank her for saving his ancestor, and learn more about his grandfather's former life....Others have detailed the rest of the plot.... This film succeeds where god-awful pseudo-epics like Schindler's List fail precisely because it mixes in the funny with the horrid, and does not dwell on the pornography of death that many in the business of prostituting the Holocaust and its dead millions rely on. The death of an individual, in this film, is far more affecting than Spielberg's anonymous bodycount. The viewer, who is smart enough, can multiply that by the millions to himself. Seeing the old lady is a collector of the things of the dead, too, is a powerful way to evoke not just the dead's bodies, but their lives and desires, the essence of the human far truer than flesh and blood. Another positive of the film is that it does not tie all things up in a neat bow, and is thus more real than many such films that have to spoonfeed their audiences. Save for Alex's end conversion to Judaism, all these loose ends emotionally fit, so to speak.
Fans of the book complain that the illumination at the novel's end is that Alex's grandfather was a Gentile who finked out his Jewish friend to the Nazis to save his own family. This would explain Grandpa's suicide a bit better than believing that he felt some survivor's guilt, when the film makes him a Jew. Yet, since the film ends realistically, without answering all questions, the suicide fits neatly into that spectrum, thus leavening the discrepancy. And, be that as it may, films always have to change things in books, and the film's revelations are no less devastating, and more realistic, especially if you've never read the book, so the argument fails. The film does not. It entertains, enlightens, and leaves a viewer wanting more. This is what all art should do.
September 10, 2008

Movie with heart and extreme laughter

This is literally one of the best movies I've ever seen. The first half of the movie, you will laugh uncontrollably at the cultural misunderstandings and crazy antics of the characters; then, the story morphs into a drama that grabs your heart and twists it like dough. I've never watched a movie that causes me to feel so many emotions in one sitting. And I was drawn into it within the first 3 minutes.
Also, it is very, VERY quotable. September 6, 2008

My Favorite Movie- Have watched atleast 30 times

This is honestly, the funniest movie I have ever watched. I didn't think non Russian speakers would find it as funny as I did, but according to the hundreds of other reviews on this site, it is well loved by you guys as well. Trust me when I say this: this movie rocks! August 20, 2008

Offbeat treatment of Holocaust and Genealogy

This is a very odd movie. It's good, but definitely not what I expected. At first I couldn't figure out if it was supposed to be a comedy or a drama. It slowly shifted more toward drama and I slowly got a sense of what the story was actually about. The actors are very good, and there is decent character development.

The story itself is about an American collector (Woods) going to the Ukraine to find some elements from his family history. His Ukranian tour guide is a grandfather-grandson combination that definitely adds color.

Overall, I liked it, but could not recommend it fully to everyone. You really have to like offbeat movies or Elijah Wood to go for this one in my book. August 5, 2008

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