Film Response: Everything is Illuminated

The film Everything is Illuminated incorporates a variety of genres, including both comedy and drama. The beginning of the film introduces the viewers to Alexander and his grandfather, two Ukrainian misfits whose individuality suprisingly and ironically bonds them together. The pair are hired to escort a young Jewish American man whom they affectionately name "Jon-fen" around Ukraine in search of a town he believes to be called Trachembrod. "Jon-fen," otherwise known as Jonathan Safran Foer, tags along with Alex, his grandfather, and the elderly man's seeing-eye dog (of whom he is deathly afraid) on a long journey to discover more about his family history. He believes that at Trachembrod he will find a women who was connected, romantically or otherwise, to his grandfather. Along the way, these three men and their dog discover new things about each others' lives, culture, and their shared connection in humanity.

Alex's grandfather acts as a rather static character during most of the story. Towards the end, however, he changes his demeanor radically. The group of travelers meet one of the last remaining Jewish survivors of the Nazi raid on Trachembrod. It is also revealed to the audience that Alex's grandfather was a Jewish man who also survived the attack many years earlier. The grumpy old man's behavior suddenly seems justified. Not long after all is revealed about Trachembrod, the grandfather kills himself, bleeding to death in his bath tub. There's no clear reason for why he does this. My guess is that he finally came to peace with this past and the pain he had to deal with at Trachembrod. I can't even imagine how I would feel to be the one of two survivors of an horrific ordeal during which all of my friends and family were killed. It seems to me that one result of the "post-traumatic guilt" that he was experiencing was that he tended to bottle up all of his memories of and feelings about Trachembrod. This was why the only emotion he seemed to display was animosity or bitterness. Then, after talking to the woman who survived, he was able to connect with someone who truely knew the turmoil he was going through. In a way, that unload of guilt and emotional connection comforted him. He was at peace. In his mind, there was nothing else to live for. The sadness surrounding Trachembrod was the only thing that had any meaning to him, and now that it was lessened, there was nothing else that could have kept him alive. This is why I suspect that he committed suicide.