Everything is Illuminated(2005)
dir. Liev Schreiber
Digging up a family's buried history.
Where to watch: Rent/buy: Apple TV, Amazon; streaming on KanopyLetterboxd ↗
A young Jewish American man travels to Ukraine with an eccentric translator and his grandfather to find the woman who saved his grandfather's life during the Nazi invasion, and a small Ukrainian town that was wiped off the map. Adapted from Jonathan Safran Foer's novel.
Why it’s here
Punk in blending absurdist comedy with Holocaust memory without ever trivializing either — the film trusts that grief and humor can share the same road trip. Pedagogical in showing how erased places and people can still be located, if someone is willing to look hard enough.
Where This Film Lives
- Topics
- the holocaust
Read Alongside
Books that share a topic, theme, or setting with this film.
Burning the Books: A History of Knowledge Under Attack
Richard Ovenden
Knowledge was always the target.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST
Number the Stars
Lois Lowry
The Nazis are rounding up Jews. Her family hides her best friend.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST
Different Seasons
Stephen King
How fascism finds the boy next door.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST
Everything is Illuminated
Jonathan Safran Foer
A young American goes to Ukraine to find his grandfather's savior.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Michael Chabon
Comic books save the world (kinda).
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST
The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale
Art Spiegelman
The only comic to win the Pulitzer. Banned anyway.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST
The Diary of a Young Girl
Anne Frank
Thirteen, in hiding, writing to stay real.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST
The Librarian of Auschwitz
Antonio Iturbe
Eight books. One library. One defiant act.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST