The Book Of Eli

 

    My husband and I rented the movie "The Book of Eli." We popped our popcorn and settled in to watch us some Denzel Washington. The movie began slow, and we waited and waited for it to pick up in action and content, but it didn't. I had prepared to see an action-packed movie with the usual kick butt hero or at least some type of battle between the forces of good and evil. There were the established good guys and bad guys, but the battle between them was not one that left you on the edge of your seat rooting for the good guy. So, the only thing left to do was to try to figure out what exactly the movie was trying to accomplish. It wasn't to entertain through graphics and high-tech explosives.

     The color format of the movie was dull and depressing on purpose. I knew that the theme was apocalyptic, and that Scripture somehow figured into the story line. But the movie was more of a commentary on the loss of a grounding force among men. It showed how uncivilized mankind can become after a catastrophic event. How the things that make us civilized can be lost in one generation. It also showed that those who survive will be concerned with just that, self-survival at the cost of dignity, morals, and humanity. Those that will rise after catastrophe will be those who are of a higher level of education, and they will grab and maintain that power by making sure that the masses do not obtain education.

     The uneducated will follow anyone who seems to know authoritatively what they are saying and doing whether it is the true case or not. As long as the main character is doing his act of faith, he cannot be stopped with mere force. He was given the task and God would be with him until its completion. While completing the task, Eli realizes that it is not material things that need to be protected but faith, hope, and love that is the sacred. 

    The story has a happy ending of a new day dawning and the torch being passed on to another. If the audience can sit through the movie without flashes and booms and connect with the story and allow themselves to be challenged in their religious comfort, then there is a good message to be had. This would make a good movie to be viewed on a church movie night and discussed later in some form of group setting. Young and old can benefit from this discusion. It brings up the question of what happens to a society when education is gone? What happens to a society that is without religion? What are a people to do when a generation has no history to draw from? How does the helpless and hopeless survive and who will you run to as your leader? I can not give this movie any thumbs up but I am glad to have watched it.