Everything Is Illuminated Analysis

Written and directed by Liev Schreiber, Everything is Illuminated follows Jonathan Safran Foer, an American Jew who is searching for a woman from Ukraine who kept his grandpa alive during World War II. The film, which is based off of a novel, takes place predominantly in Ukraine. While on the journey to find information about his grandfather, Jonathan has two Ukrainian men along his side, Alex and Alex’s grandfather. The two Ukrainians own a business that helps Jews find their lost roots dealt by the Holocaust.

Over the course of the film, not only does Jonathan find new discoveries about his grandfather, but Alex also find discoveries about his grandfather. Throughout the film, the road the characters traveled resulted in growth and findings about themselves.

In the first half of the film, a majority of scenes are comedic. Alex, the narrator of the film and translator between Jonathan and his grandfather, speaks a broken, but formal english. He goes on to say things such as, “Were you proximal with your grandfather?” or “Were you able to manufacture the ZZZs?” Actions and dialect like these balanced out the seriousness in the second half of the film.

Also, the first half of the film quietly gives the viewer hints and clues for the second half of the film. The experiences Alex and Jonathan go through in their illumination of the past presents itself in the future. Countless times, the viewer is shown elements of the past, to compare and contrast the present.

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A few examples of this is the shot of the scarfed old lady, the kids riding their skateboards, and the yellow arches of McDonalds. Also, in scenes where the three men are driving, shots showing the car’s side view-mirror is framed. The director plays with the idea of the relationship between the past and the present that for one to be on route with their life, they need to know where they came from; their past.

Everything Is Illuminated Film Review

A motif that focuses on the past and present is the motif …