For much of the world, Primo Levi's voice is the only one we've heard from Jewish Italy. His books, "The Monkey Wrench," "If This is a Man" and "The Drowned and the Saved" give us insight into the Holocaust and life for Jews in early 20th century Italy.

Levi's works are accepted as some of the most moving of the century. Born in Turin, Levi studied to be a chemist. As an anti-fascist he was arrested and in 1944 sent to Auschwitz. When the camp was liberated, Levi began an eight-month journey back to Turin that led him through Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Austria and, finally, Italy.

"Primo Levi's Journey," a film by Davide Ferrario -- an Italian known for his popular movies (like "After Midnight") as well as for his documentaries -- follows Levi's route.

The 92-minute film mixes history, travelogue and current events as Ferrario traces Levi's route, adds some voice over readings from Levi's book "The Truce" and paints contemporary portraits of the towns and locations that Levi visited during his journey.

Ferrario begins with some interesting footage of Levi himself visiting Auschwitz. Watching Levi walk through the exhibits and around the grounds of the camp -- the former prisoner as a tourist -- is surreal.

As the journey progresses, we see what Chernobyl is like today. In L'vov, Ferrario looks at the murder of Igor Bilozir for his devotion to national songs sung in Ukranian. In Kazatin, we learn of Levi's yearning for a Russian girl he knew.

And, sadly, in the end, we are of course reminded of the way in which Levi remained haunted and terrorized by his life. And of how he took his own life by throwing himself down the stairs of the Turin building in which he lived.

"Primo Levi's Journey" is a film about a man who was a powerful part of our collective conscience in the 20th century, but it also is an unflinching portrait of a changing Europe.

In an interview Ferrario pointed out that in most small towns, locals were eager to point out what was new (read: what the West had brought), whereas he and his colleagues were eager to capture the exact opposite.

His ability to wrap his lens around that dichotomy is part of what makes "Primo Levi's Journey" so engrossing.