Everything Is Illuminated

Content Warning: The source material contains references to suicide and genocide.

Even though the bombs on Safran’s wedding night were not intended for Trachimbrod, the village changes afterward. The inhabitants become unable to act and spend all their time lost in their memories. Safran tries to make sense of his life and decipher the reason for everything that has happened to him. The town has a meeting to decide what to do about the impending danger of the Nazi army, but they cannot make any decisions because they are trapped in their memories. They keep meeting, but eventually, the meetings peter out without any decisions being made. They think about their memories more than the present danger and do nothing.

Safran visits the Dial. His wife is pregnant and he asks for the health of their baby girl. The statue tells Safran the truth about the Kroker’s final days with Brod. He reveals that Brod would come into his room and get into bed with him every night, even though it was dangerous and they had agreed to stay separated. Then he tells a story from when they were first married and lived in a house near the waterfall.