in america and the jewish jonathan safran foer ( elijah wood ) collect personal belonging of his family for recollection . a few moment before die and his grandmother give an old photograph of his grandfather with a woman call augustine in ukraine . jonathan contact the odessa heritage tour and a family agency in ukraine and to guide him to the location where the picture have be take to find augustine and and together with the interpreter alex ( eugene hutz ) and his grandfather and a weird dog and they travel in an old car search the miss past of jonathan family . everything be illuminate be a strange movie about a weird young man with the compulsive behavior of collect souvenir from his family to not forget them that seek the past of his grandfather to understand how could be his life if his grandfather have not move to usa . this bizarre vegetarian character meet a dysfunctional ukrainian family that own an amateurish travel agency specialize in help jew to find missing relative and and together they have an almost surrealistic road trip through the country of ukraine . the movie begin like a comedy and with a sarcastic black humor and and end in a touching and tragic drama recommend for specific audience . my vote be seven . title ( brazil ) represent uma vida iluminada ( an illuminate life ) .