Typically, comedy is not associated with movies about the Holocaust, nor should it be. However, Liev Schreiber’s “Everything is Illuminated” manages to incorporate a number of witting moments into what is otherwise a mysterious and disturbing account of one man’s family history during the Holocaust.
Based on the 2002 novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, “Everything Is Illuminated.” It addresses somber issues associated with the attempted extermination of the Jews during the Holocaust, but does so in a comedic fashion that leaves that audience feeling curious and compassionate rather than depressed.
Jonathan Safran Foer, played by Elijah Wood from “Lord of the Rings,” is a twenty-something with an eccentric penchant for collecting objects related to his family’s history, including photographs and his grandmother’s dentures.
When the movie opens, Jonathan’s grandmother, who is dying, leaves him with a photograph of his grandfather and an woman identified with a name but no story.
Jonathan notices that the woman in the photo is wearing an amber necklace, with an insect preserved within it, identical to one he “collected” from his grandfather years earlier.
The coincidence and Jonathan’s unquenchable curiosity about his family’s past leads him to search for a Ukranian village as he seeks out the woman who presumably saved his grandfather, and therefore Jonathan’s family, from the Nazis.
His journey is one that will be shocking and enlightening for both the characters and the audience.
The movie’s hilarity is carried by Jonathan’s Russian-speaking translator, Alex, played by Eugene Hutz, who loves all things American and whose broken English and misuse of words creates some of the film’s funniest scenes. Alex’s grandfather’s neurotic dog, Sammy Davis Jr. Jr., is repeatedly referred to as the “seeing-eye bitch.”
There seems to be a trend in soundtracks of independent films set in Europe. The music is usually a little quirky, a little offbeat and perfectly complements the film’s intentions.
The good thing about this movie is that it has such a soundtrack. On the other hand, you will leave the theater and have campy polka music in your head for hours.
“Everything is Illuminated” is quirky, comical, and smart. It is infrequent that a movie-goer feels justified in spending $9 to see a film. But this film is worth an extra $9 just to see it again.
Currently, the only local theater showing the film is the Garden Cinemas in Norwalk.
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