XDA

On Hugh Hewitt's recommendation, I went last night to see Everything is Illuminated. I didn't like it but it wasn't at all a bad movie. Hewitt said it would stay with you for a long time and I guess that's right.

It starts off kinda slow and then picks up and is actually very funny once we're in the Ukraine (or is it the Czech republic?). The first time director, Liev Schreiber, an actor whom you have seen in films whether you remember his name or not, makes fun of, but at the same time is jealous of, the unsophisticated but full of life Ukrainians the same way the director held up his fellow ex-patriot Yugoslavians for ridicule in Montenegro. (I still recall the main male character in that film saying his non de plum was meant to be ironic and he said it with a vehemence and a bitterness that should have warned us of the red hot rivalries that existed in Tito-led Yugoslavia that would erupt and send the country into chaos and a 6 way split after Tito died in 1980--but it didn't. Back to the Ukraine). The movie even pays homage to the famous steps of the memorable scenes in Battleship Potemkin by Eisenstein.

The movie stays rolling along pretty well until they reach their destination. You get the sense of the fields of wheat and sunflowers running on forever and the Ukraine is surprisingly beautiful. Sharp eyed viewers might question whether the place they were having a roadside circus or fair (where they first asked for directions) wasn't the same place where the arms sales went down in Lord of War. Looked exactly the same to me. Once they find the village they're looking for, then the movie falls apart, for me. I can't talk about the main mystery in the movie without ruining it, so I won't, but I wonder if the central mystery is the thing that Hewitt warns will stick with you. I felt very little emotional connection to the Elijah Wood's character and I started off liking the translator, Alex, but he became less and less endearing even as he took over the road trip/spiritual awakening part of the movie from Wood's character. After the central mystery thing a lot of elements start to fall into place and there is a sort of catharsis/recognition of Man's place in the universe, that is, totally screwed by the past. But not everything falls into place. Needless to say, for me, the title was ironic as all was definitely not illuminated. It's 106 minutes long--no sex, no nudity, no violence (really), and no action. Some thought production, though and most of the actors, including Elijah Wood, are pretty good. The dog in it deserves an Oscar. If I were to rate art with a school letter grade, which I would most certainly not do, I'd give this film a B-.