SpittinFlicks.com

House review of Everything Is Illuminated (2005)

Most bookish people would claim that film versions of novels are usually pale imitations, and often they’re right (The Golden Compass being a recent example), but occasionally a film can add something to a previously told story, or, as in this case, at least make it more easily digestible.

This then is the film version of the first novel by Jonathan Safran Foer. I have to confess I failed to finish the book (although I enjoyed his follow up novel a great deal). Much of the book is written in the dialect of one of the main characters, a Ukrainian called Alex. Perhaps I’m a lazy reader but I find books written in dialect really hard work. It’s why I won’t touch an Irving Welsh, another case in point for me where a film can add something to a book - Trainspotting. But here (as in Trainspotting) it just took me a few minutes to adjust to the dialect and then I was away.

On the surface of it, “Everything is Illuminated” is a Holocaust story, or rather, the story of a Jewish man (Safran Foer himself) visiting the Ukraine to try to find the woman who he believes was instrumental in saving his grandfather from the Nazis in WW2. That search is at the root of the film and gives it purpose, but what you actually get is a road movie, with some terrific cinematography (the sunflowers being particularly memorable!) and a terrific soundtrack, just as all successful road movies should have, although here it’s more offbeat than most.

I’m not sure the Ukrainian people come out of it too well, being portrayed as somewhat gauche, but this does make for some very funny moments. Alex acts as the protagonist’s translator for the journey across the Ukraine and he provides most of the laughs, mainly due to his mangling of the English language. It works brilliantly here, even though the same dialogue annoyed me so much in the book. Alex is totally obsessed with American culture but seems to be stuck somewhere in the mid 1970s (Michael Jackson being a particular favourite), and is constantly replaying his version of what he believes to be cool to a bemused Elijah Wood who plays the distinctly uncool Safran Foer with a look of mild terror for a good part of the film’s duration. Wood was perhaps an odd choice for the lead role but he delivers a nicely understated performance and here shows he’s more than just a hairy footed hobbit after all.

For the most part this is a funny movie, but the underlying subject matter, with its flashbacks to the treatment of Jews in WW2 and the slight anti-Semitism that Safran Foer encounters in his present day journey give proceedings a sobering tone, and the conclusion to the movie is touching indeed.

The story of the Holocaust is one that must be kept alive and be told in new and increasingly varied ways in order to make it relevant for successive generations. This movie does that admirably.

Rate this film:

• Currently 4.58/10
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10

Film Rating: 4.6/10 (12 votes cast)

Reviewed by muz
Last updated:

8 Spittin reviews

Do you like this review?

None of our members have reviewed this film....Be the first member to upload a review