I try not to blog about every film I see - on Monday night I watched Everything is Illuminated. I just wanted to talk about the ending which I found rounded the film off in an unexpected manner that was profound in some way.
The main character, Jonathan (Elijah Woods), goes in search of his family roots in the Ukraine (he is American). The adventure is a long one with ups, downs and ultimate success in tracing his only living relative: his grandmothers sister. Along the way he meets a range of friendly and not so friendly types in a country that is portrayed as having been, and still being, anti-semitic (don’t know how true it is in reality). He comes across a little boy (who lets down their tyre), a female hotelier (who doesn’t understand the concept of a vegetarian) and a bunch of construction workers (who refuse to give directions to any American).
At the conclusion of his trip he arrives back at the airport in the USA. Scattered throughout the airport are security guards, shop keepers and passengers played by the same actors that Jonathan meets along the way. I think that the director / writer was trying to express how simple decisions can result in a complete change of circumstances in our lives. This is somewhat overloaded with the idea that the everyday characters in the ukraine are people in exactly the same way that people in our locality and personal culture are people.
We all have much in common, despite our often stark differences.