Everything is Illuminated, The Mission, and Little Buddah Movie Review

Everything is Illuminated, The Mission, and Little Buddah - Movie Review Example Jonathon makes the journey to Ukraine to try and find the mystery woman who helped his grandfather during his time of need. Another meaning from the statement that Jonathon gives is that he wants to discover his own background. Something that Jonathon maybe think is about is the fact that he would not exist without this woman helping his grandfather. If there is a chance that she is still alive, then Jonathon wants to meet her and possibly thank her. Jews by nature are very religious people who have had a long and turbulent history. It is this history that helps them to keep going. Modern day Jews wants the story of the Holocaust to be taught because they do not want the wrongs of the past to be repeated in the future. Jonathon feels like his history is an important part of who he is today, so he should do everything possible to learn from his ancestors. While Jonathon may not be finding information key to the Jewish religion, he appreciates the fact that he is Jewish and wants to le arn more about his history. 2. Alex’s grandfather initially had a negative attitude towards Jews; he keeps referring to Jonathon as â€Å"Yid,† which can sometimes be used as a derogatory term for Jewish people. There are some Jews who call themselves this term, so there is still some debate as to whether Yid puts down Jews or not. Alex’s grandfather’s attitude towards Jews does change over the course of the film, but this is largely due to the journey that everyone takes. This change is unusual in a way because Alex’s grandfather has always had a negative view of Jews, probably because of the area of Ukraine that he was brought up in. Another reason could be that he has dealt with so many Jews looking to travel to Ukraine that he has grown accustomed to Jews as customers rather than friends. Also, the fact that he is an old man makes it all the more unlikely that he changed his view of Jews after traveling with one through the Ukrainian countrysid e. But, after seeing Jonathon make a journey to pursue some of his history, and the fact that everyone got along well, Alex’s grandfather begins to understand that his previous view of Jews was in fact wrong. 3. The Christian religion is shown in a both a positive and negative light, depending on the characters involved. The positive representation of Christianity is shown when the Jesuits go into the forest and help the native people by teaching them to read, building schools and churches, and offering them a way out of their primitive state. Along the way, the Jesuits even manage to convince a mercenary, Mendoza, to join them. They had no reason to do this except to pick someone up at their lowest point. The negative representation of Christianity is shown by the Jesuit Order in Europe and the Catholic Church, which pursue an aggressive strategy of eliminating the new converts from their land simply due to border and land disputes. The scenes showing church leaders in Europ e give the impression that the Christian church wants to conquer the world with no respect for the native people they come across. The message given about Christianity is a balanced one; missionaries such as Father Gabriel choose not to fight because it goes against what he believes while Mendoza believes that Christians should have the right to protect themselves. The film does not offer an opinion on which belief is the greater one; it only presents a situation that