Everything
is Illuminated is actor and first time writer/director Liev Schreiber’s adaptation
of Jonathan Safron Foer’s celebrated (if not a bit overrated) novel of one
young man’s search (Elijah Wood) for the woman who helped his Grandfather
escape the clutches of the Nazi’s and escape to America during WWII. Wood
is an odd and sometimes not so effective lead with his big Hobbity eyes magnified
by a pair of huge glasses. He doesn’t act so much as react, and as such is
probably the most inert Leading Man I’ve ever seen in a film. He wears a
suit and tie at all times - even when sleeping beneath the Ukrainian stars, which
is where his journey leads him.
He
contracts with a Odessa based Heritage tour that specializes in outings that revolve
around the Holocaust and WWII. It is at this point that we meet Alex and his Grandfather.
Alex is the narrator whose broken English is good for several laughs and his Grandfather
claims to have been struck blind when he lost his wife - though he still drives
the bus. Alex is played by Eugene Hutz - a fascinating character in real life
who heads up a gypsy punk band in New York called Gogol Bordello that melds Polka,
punk, gypsy and hip hop. Some of the funnier moments in the film involve Alex’s
way with the English language. Lines like “many women desire to be carnal
with me because of my premium dancing.”
Hutz
narrates and at times seems more the protagonist than Wood (whose minimalism makes
Bill Murray look like Jim Carrey in Pet Detective.) Shrieber takes a lighter approach
to the material than Foer did in his book - which is surprising to me, because
you’d think an actor turned first time director, would be more inclined to
make it an acting-filled script, but instead is content with frame after frame
of the Ukraine countryside accompanied by authentic local music. In fact the sooner
you give up on Wood as the leading man the better off you’ll be. Wood is
a classic window character in which we are able to view the aftermath of a country
and society that has had to cover it’s tracks and hide it’s evidence.
Between the Grandfather, Alex , Wood and a dog named Sammy Davis Jr. Jr. the foursome
is complete as they set out to find a town that is nowhere to be found on any
maps. This is obviously a literary set-up, but Shrieber manages to infuse it with
a good deal of warmth, humor and poignant pathos.
Hutz
and Wood do have several interesting moments, and at times the two make an interesting
movie pair - ironically Hutz seems much more adept at handling the emotional weight
toward the end of the movie. Once your eyes are that big, I guess they ‘re
incapable of getting any bigger. Ultimately the film has a serious mission, which
is to unearth Ukraine’s involvement in the Holocaust. Both Grandfather and
Grandson express a certain disdain for any American who would want to waste his
time mucking about the wasteland of their cold and desolate country for such skullduggery.
(After all they perceive America as the great promised land and whose culture
Alex is in love with) But by the end there is a bittersweet resolution that makes
the trip and the film worthwhile - and Wood’s inert acting forgivable. Very
lovable little film.
