Article written by Samuel Burnett (film department) and Rory Hawkins (literature department).
Welcome back to Pages to Pictures! It’s that monthly time when we, Rory and Sam, take a look at novel and its film adaptation - discussing what we liked from both and if it worked on the screen.
Rory:
This time we’re covering author Jonathan Safran Foer’s 2002 novel Everything is Illuminated and its subsequent screen release in 2005. Though both flaunt an endearing awkward comedy, they both wander into different artistic strengths.
The inspiration lies behind a trip Foer - a Jewish-American - took during college. Wanting find out more about his family’s roots, he travelled to Ukraine to find out the identity of the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis during WW2. Ultimately finding nothing, Foer used his strange experiences abroad to base his fictional adventure on.
Both versions of Everything is Illuminated take a fictional Jonathan Safran Foer on quirky comedy-adventure through backwater Ukraine, lead on by his translator Alex (who speaks “premium English”), his cranky grandfather and Sammy Davis Jr Jr, their “Seeing-Eye Bitch”.
The book flicks between three perspectives: post-”illumination” Alex writing to Jonathan in America; Alex’s perspective during their journey; and Foer’s writing on imagined life in a pre-war Jewish village.
Sam:
The film simplified things by only covering Jonathan’s journey. I enjoyed the clever conversations between the characters, reflecting on American pop culture and focusing on their journey as well as with the lessons learned along the way.
One of the hardest things about adapting a novel can be the amount of story that’s going to be included. I thought focussing on this part was a smart move, and very grounding to the plot. The novel gave a more holistic look but you had to get used to it jumping around.
Rory:
Personally, I wish they’d covered more of the goings-on in the Jewish village. They needn’t have been very long but it would been a nice touch that would’ve broken up the road trip into manageable chunks. Some of my favourite chapters just didn’t get any screen time.
Sam:
A change that I did not particularly care for is what the film did to the role of Alex’s grandfather. SPOILER WARNING!
In the novel we find out Alex’s grandfather gave his Jewish best friend up to the Nazis. I’m not going to lie, this was dark. While the grandfather was certainly not a Nazi sympathiser, the book pulled no punches when depicting the misery of war and what lengths an ordinary man will go to save his life and the lives of his family.
In contrast, the film completely chickens out from showing this tragic act of moral ambiguity by a turning him into a Jewish man who escaped the Nazis and stayed in Ukraine by pretending he wasn't Jewish. What a cop out!
Rory:
I absolutely agree. But that said, we should probably move onto more about the movie. Directed and written for screen by Liev Schreiber, it stars Elijah Wood as Jonathan Safran Foer, Eugene Hutz as Alex Perchov; Boris Leskin as Alex’s Grandfather. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find who played Sammy Davis Jr Jr.
Sam:
Okay, first things first, when did Sabretooth learn to direct? Seriously. And when did he learn to direct small budget indie films? Honestly, just off Schreiber’s name I’d be expecting some sort of explosive, big budget extravaganza about a grizzled badass on his badass quest for vengeance.
I mean, this film opened with a soft acoustic guitar playing over the opening credits. Did a John Green director die and possess Liev Schreiber’s body during the making of this film? That would explain a lot.
It brought to mind Russell Crowe’s directorial debut, The Water Diviner. That too was a small-scale, character focused drama that did not follow in the footsteps of his action star career.
Rory:
Mismatched as the director might be, the actors were very well cast. Jonathan Safran Foer’s character was changed from a writer to an introverted collector of family effects - Wood brought that awkwardness he’s grown into in roles since Lord of the Rings.
Equally, casting native Russian-speakers may have been an obvious move but it still pays off wonderfully. If you’re like me and spend to much time on the internet, Hutz’s depiction of Alex will fulfill everything in the word ‘Slav’, attitude to match the gold chains and tracksuit.
Sam:
Back to Elijah Wood - I love how Schreiber changed his character from a writer in the book to a collector in the film. Both professions do a good job of showing us his character in their respective mediums; being a writer would not work well in film as we would not get to read his work. But having him be a collector does the same job, allowing us to learn about his personality through what we see him accumulate.
This is a clear indication that sometimes a purely faithful, point for point remake would not always be in the story’s best interests. Sometimes, story devices do not translate well from one medium to another. Schreiber knows what to keep, what to alter and what to leave out all together for the good of the film.
Rory:
Talking about what works best in a film’s interest: the cinematography. The book doesn’t spend a huge amount of time on the environment. You can’t dwell on it to the same effect.
All the while you’ve got a soundtrack that plucks the heartstrings; composers Paul Cantelon and Sergey Shnurov really knew how to heighten the emotions of a moment without losing the feel of the film.
Filmed on location in Ukraine’s Odessa and in the Czech countryside, the picturesque shots bring that out indie-film tone. Worn out buildings from the USSR and rolling countryside makes the journey feel like the point of this movie. Add a soundtrack chock full of ethnic-Jewish/eastern European music and it’s like you’re backpacking abroad yourself.
Sam:
The camera adores the background, focusing on the saturated colours of fields, worn down hotels and the architecture of Odessa the same way that Michael Bay would focus on explosions, American flags and the behinds of supermodels.
The novel’s final depictions are of darkness, tragedy and heartbreaking decisions. However the film plays it safe, sacrificing any emotional reaction you will have if you have already read the book. While this does not ruin the film, it really sticks out, especially since Schreiber had displayed a masterful skill at balancing what needed to change against what did not.
All in all though, this was a superb adaptation, the grandfather subplot aside. While it was not a beat for beat remake with the book used as a script, it easily captured the feel and tone found on the pages. I’d definitely recommend seeing it - in fact it’s available soon on Netflix.
Rory:
Though I love the novel and what wasn’t included in the film, I still think this is a great movie and a well done adaption. Schreiber brought main road-trip plot to life. I think Everything is Illuminated stands as a great indie-comedy. If you’re into trying something a little different, then you should definitely give this a go.
Enjoyed the movie? Read the book for even more cut-and-dry laughs and prose poetic enough to charm your socks off.
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