Everything is Illuminated

"The medium shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action." In "The Medium is the Message" McLuhan recognizes the power of media to impact how people associate and interact with things and with each other. In Everything is Illuminated, objects dictate human action and interaction. Would Jonathan (a.k.a. Jonfen) have gone in search of his grandfather's past if not for the objects he'd collected (especially the picture and the pendant)? I don't think he would. The picture especially influenced not only Jonathan but also the older woman (whose name I can't remember) by bringing back memories, but the photo also influences the audience because it tells us about that moment without any kind of cinematic flashback. That medium explains the past and, as McLuhan says, is an "extension of ourselves." It is an extension of the people in the photo, the person who took it, the person who possesses it, and the people who see it.
Another object that offers a great message is the ring that Augustine buried. It exists as proof that she existed. Is there any greater purpose in saving objects than to prove that someone else lived?