Last night we finally watched Everything is Illuminated. We've had it IQ'd for months and but never quite got around to watching it.

Films are rarely great. At best they are good and more often mediocre. Maybe, with the subject matter being close to my heart and my heritage, I could be biased. But I really thought it was great. It was everything a wonderful film should be: funny and moving, well written, well acted and well directed.

Some movies which tackle a difficult subject leave you feeling bruised and battered, emotionally shell-shocked (I am thinking Schindler's List and Nil by Mouth as two examples which spring readily to mind). However, (and not taking anything away from these amazing films) sometimes a subtle, more gentle, story can have just as much impact.

It is the story of a young Jewish American man who travels back to the Ukraine to visit the place his grandfather grew up and find the woman who saved him during the war. The story starts in Odessa, the city where I was born, and for me watching this film I finally felt the very first real inkling within myself that I would like to visit the place where my life began. I have genuinely never felt much of an interest in doing so before. But as much as it his and his family's story, it also the story of the young Ukranian translator and his grandfather.

Liev Schreiber adapted the screenplay (from the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, which I now must read immediately if not sooner) and directed this beautiful film and given the opportunity I will give him a huge hug and say "thank you" from the bottom of my heart.