Movies, Landscapes and Sunflowers
Everything is Illuminated (2005): A comedy and drama set in the Ukraine
A young Jewish American man sets out to find a woman who saved his Ukrainian grandfather during WWII. He finds her in a small house in the middle of a sunflower field.
Everything is Illuminated (2005) - is identified as a Comedy / Drama at the Internet Movie DataBase (IMDB) as well as on the DVD cover. It was for this reason, and also that Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings trilogy) had top listing, but mostly because according to IMDB, parts of the movie were shot in Lvov / Lviv and Odessa in the Ukraine that I borrowed it.
Some of the scenery and light qualities photographed reminded me very much of portions of Poland I visited in 2005 and 2006. However, the fields of sunflowers near the end of the movie held their own fascination for me...as a gardener and botanist. I was taken aback to see this scene and initially believed the cinematographers used this as a device to make an interesting and beautiful scene, because sunflowers are native to North America, not Eurasia.
However, early colonists and explorers in the New World sent seed from their outposts back to Europe. In western Europe, sunflowers initially and primarily grew as ornamentals. Sunflower seed was not used as an edible crop as they originally were in North America until they reached Russia.
Most of the credit for sunflower's popularity as a food source is usually given to Peter the Great (9 June 1672–8 February 1725 ). Sunflowers became very popular as a cultivated plant in the 18th century and by the early 19th century, Russian farmers were growing over 2 million acres of sunflowers. By 1830, sunflower oil was being manufactured on a commercial scale.
Now, here is the interesting part for me! In Russia, the Holy Orthodox Church forbade the use of many foods, including those rich in oil, during Lent and Advent. But, the Church did not forbid the use of sunflowers, so the Russians eagerly accepted the sunflower as an oil source that could be eaten without breaking the laws of the church. Russians also enjoyed sunflowers as a snack food.
Today, Russia and the Ukraine commercially grow the majority of the world's supply of sunflowers for seed and oil. So, seeing that cottage in the middle of the sunflower field was not as discordant as it initially appeared to me. And the scene was indeed as beautiful as it was symbolic.
There are trailers for this movie at the IMDB
©
Text and photograph by Georgene A. Bramlage, October 2006. Reproduction without permission prohibited
