everything is illuminated. movie version.

as i mentioned before, after reading the book, i decided not to watch the movie because i was certain it would disappoint me. however, after rereading the book, i decided to give the movie a chance.

i was right. the movie did disappoint me. if i had never read the book, i would have loved the movie but that is not the case. and i understand it was a difficult book to adapt and that it would have been impossible to fit everything from the novel into a 2 hour film. but still it was only half of the book and it was not the part i wanted. i wanted to see the story of trachimbrod, it was so mythical that i imagined in done in the style of "amelie" or "big fish". but instead it was the less whimsical (but still endearingstory) of jonathan looking for augustine. i think liev schreiber did a great job, but that he chose the wrong storyline to portray.

i think eugene hutz did an amazing job as alex. he was everything i imagined alex to be and more. he was alex. and after a while i found him extremely sexy in his retro ll cool j outfits. (i recently looked up his imdb and swoon when it comes to his stache!) hutz' voice even sounded as i imagined alex would sound like. (so blonde moment: just realized that eugene is the frontman of gogol bordello and i have seen them twice at coachella!)

again i know not that movies can not be exactly the same as the book.  but there were some changes that seem to harm the story versus help it.  one thing was the friendship that grew between alex and jonathan, their closeness was missing from the movie. at the end of the book,  it was sweet to see how much helped each other grow; especially how jonathan gave alex the courage to try new things in life.  however, this was not present in the movie which was odd because they had been through a lot during the film. they shared the linking stories of their grandfathers and with alex's grandfather's ending, there good bye did not seem that special.

before i give my next critique, i will say that this movie had me in tears.  it is a very emotional and beautiful movie but i was distracted by the change to alex's grandfather's storyline.  without spoiling it for anyone, in the book, grandfather's link to trachimbrod was more powerful and complex than the movie version.  i'm not sure why schreiber changed it.  being of jewish descent may have resulted in him wanting to tell a different tale.  i googled "liev schreiber change grandfather story line in everything is illuminated" and i came across this article liev schreiber is illuminated.  after reading that article, i excuse him.  because a) his film is based on the short story in the new yorker and b) perhaps it parallels his grandfather's fate as well.  with viewing alex's introduction to his jewish background at the end could mirror schreiber's upbringing and in both cases the grandfather is the link to embrace of judaism.

please know that i don't think this was a horrible film.  like i mentioned before it was beautiful.  elijah wood was adorable in it.  i loved his large frames.  i loved how he put everything in ziplocs so that he could remember everything.  i loved how augustine's home was surrounded by sunflowers.  and i loved seeing all of the boxes that filled her house.  it was a great film and you should definitely check it out of the library or cue it up on your netflix.  and you should also read the book, neither one will ruin the other and you can get the bonus of visualizing elijah wood as jonathan.