Everything is Illuminated

I finally got to see the movie Everything is Illuminated. Elijah Wood stars as Jonathan Safran Foer, young man who travels to the Ukraine to attempt to find a woman who saved his grandfather years ago. He hires a guide and interpreter to help locate the town his grandfather was from. The first half of the movie is quite funny, the last half is quite serious. We discover how the past of all the characters is intertwined with the story of the holocaust.

The story starts in the United States but quickly moves to the Ukraine. The guide and interpreter pick Jonathan up at the airport and they set off on their trip. In one very brief scene they pass the infamous Odessa steps, shelled by the battleship Potemkin in the failed 1905 uprising. In another scene they pass an old Russian apartment complex now in ruins. They finally find someone who knew of the village and the people in the photo Jonathan is carrying.

The visual imagery is stunning. The story is deeply touching. You start out laughing and end up crying.

I must get this movie when the DVD come out. Definitely 5 stars.