Everything is Illuminated #1

Tuesday, May 15, 2007
The first attempt.

Today I'll give somewhere to start and hope that someone will bite. In the film, Everything is Illuminated, based on the book (which I've not read) the grandfather commits suicide after confronting his past. He is happy to die there in the sunny bathroom, bathed in lukewarm red water. What did his re-encounter with the past make clear to him? Should he have been more true to his roots? Should he have fought in the moment and not abandoned his Judaism? Should he have stayed in Tranchimbrod and lived differently? Why does he kill himself? What mattered to him?

If you have an opinion, or can help me start this journey, please come along. I would love to open this up into a lifelong segment on this blog, something I'll organize and archive and just maybe we can get down to the bottom of it together.

Thank you.