Everything Is Illuminated

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Maria R @RT63332918 Apr 28 Memory doesn't only live in our minds. It lives in objects, in places, in the silence of those who survived and couldn't speak. Young American travels with almost nothing — a photograph, a name. Yet even that fragment pulls him back, the way a root pulls toward water. A woman spent decades collecting remnants of destroyed lives — photos, rings, small ordinary things — keeping them "just in case" someone would one day come and ask. The sunflowers around her house say everything. Seeds scatter far and take root in new soil — America, Argentina, anywhere. But the original roots stay behind, in the dust of vanished villages, in names without graves. The diaspora is the seed. The shtetl is the root. Looking back is not nostalgia. It is necessity. Without knowing where you come from, you cannot fully know who you are. Jonathan didn't cross the world for a photo. He came to confirm that something real stood behind him — that he wasn't invented. We all carry ground we've never walked on. See more Bill G. @BillGibson79 Mar 14 Great! Cinematography, casting, acting, originality, just everything! See more Jennifer B @RT90024712 Nov 2 I can't agree with most reviews here. This movie was brilliant. A journey to the past, Jonathon believed he was discovering his family but Alex gained much more. See more Rich S @RPS1963 12/21/2024 Liev Schreiber's directorial debut is a whimsical, almost fantasy-like journey into the past. It's unique. Some would say odd. And some would say it's not even appropriate. Too soon, maybe? But it will never be "not too soon." It lives on and we deal with it the best way we know how. And how one person handles something like the Holocaust is not universally suitable for the masses. For a couple of hours, though, you can watch "Everything Is Illuminated" and see three interwoven stories that touch on the horrible events of the past. You will chuckle and maybe laugh out loud. But always, just as in life, the atrocities are going to be right there, just out of our sight in the darkness. See more Riccardo D @RickDB 03/04/2024 Absolutely beautiful and deep. Worth watching. Fun and moving at the same time. See more g j @RT02395222 10/27/2023 Wryly funny and heart-wrenchingly sad. A truly beautiful film. See more Read all reviews