Jonathan Foer (Elijah Wood) sees the world through thick glasses, which one could see as a major metaphor. He sees the world with big eyes and bigger glasses, magnifying his experience.
Director Liev Schreiber tells the story of Jonathan, a collector of all kinds of family minutia--photos, clothing, jewelry, false teeth, dirt, even condoms--bagging in ziplock bags all the items as cataloger of his family's past. When he receives a photo of his grandfather "and the woman who saved him from the Nazis," Jonathan flies to the Ukraine to find what he can learn about his grandfather's earlier life there and the woman in the picture.
In Odessa, Jonathan begins his journey to the past by booking a "Heritage Tour" with the Perchov family. Grandfather Baruch Perchov (who has only disdain for Jews) drives the car even though he thinks he is blind, his grandson Alex Perchov (who has limited English but acts as translator), and Sammy Davis, Jr. Jr. (Baruch's seeing eye dog). The guides assume that the purpose of the trip will be to "take the Jew to see where all his relatives are dead," find nothing, and collect the money. Instead, for us, the trip takes us through the modern Ukraine as the four travelers come to terms with their own lives.
Ultimately the trip becomes very funny, totally memorable, and incredibly moving.
One of the memorable visions of the film is a house in a vast field of sunflowers where Jonathan finds some of his answers from a woman who is also a collector. Is it just irony that the Greek story of Clytie tells of a young woman who waits for Apollo to return her love and when he doesn't and she begins to starve herself, the gods turn her into a sunflower which turns its head always to follow the sun forever.
I used to teach Maus, which deals with Art Speigelman's coming to terms with his father's experiences in a concentration camp and his personal growth as he learns of his father's past. This work would be a great companion piece about how memory and the past exists beside us always.
I feel richer for having seen this film.
Everything is Illuminated (2005) *****
Director Liev Schreiber tells the story of Jonathan, a collector of all kinds of family minutia--photos, clothing, jewelry, false teeth, dirt, even condoms--bagging in ziplock bags all the items as cataloger of his family's past. When he receives a photo of his grandfather "and the woman who saved him from the Nazis," Jonathan flies to the Ukraine to find what he can learn about his grandfather's earlier life there and the woman in the picture.
In Odessa, Jonathan begins his journey to the past by booking a "Heritage Tour" with the Perchov family. Grandfather Baruch Perchov (who has only disdain for Jews) drives the car even though he thinks he is blind, his grandson Alex Perchov (who has limited English but acts as translator), and Sammy Davis, Jr. Jr. (Baruch's seeing eye dog). The guides assume that the purpose of the trip will be to "take the Jew to see where all his relatives are dead," find nothing, and collect the money. Instead, for us, the trip takes us through the modern Ukraine as the four travelers come to terms with their own lives.
Ultimately the trip becomes very funny, totally memorable, and incredibly moving.
One of the memorable visions of the film is a house in a vast field of sunflowers where Jonathan finds some of his answers from a woman who is also a collector. Is it just irony that the Greek story of Clytie tells of a young woman who waits for Apollo to return her love and when he doesn't and she begins to starve herself, the gods turn her into a sunflower which turns its head always to follow the sun forever.
I used to teach Maus, which deals with Art Speigelman's coming to terms with his father's experiences in a concentration camp and his personal growth as he learns of his father's past. This work would be a great companion piece about how memory and the past exists beside us always.
I feel richer for having seen this film.
Everything is Illuminated (2005) *****
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