Denzel Washington stars in The Book of Eli.
Bible-thumping apocalypse
By Don Simpson
Over three decades ago years ago, “the flash” obliterated most of humanity. Some believe that “the flash” was the Reckoning and it functioned as God’s punishment of humans for misusing the Bible -– using it to control the feeble and naïve (the opiate of the masses), as well as an excuse to wage devastating wars, all in the name of Jesus. (In other words: we should be expecting “the flash” to occur any day now.) Most likely “the flash” was the end result of a nuclear holocaust (most likely due to a religious war). Whatever “the flash” was, it played out as a proverbial reset button for humankind, at least in terms of quelling religious fervor and igniting a passion for reusing and recycling.
Because of Christianity’s association with the catastrophic devastation, every Bible was supposedly destroyed. There is no mention of the Tanakh or Qur’an, but we are led to suspect that all books (religious or not) were to be destroyed. (What better way to control and subdue future populations of the earth than to ensure the propagation of illiterate imbeciles.)
Those lucky enough to be in safe hiding at the time of “the flash," such as Eli (Denzel Washington) in The Book of Eli" survived to bare witness to the scorched aftermath of the land and the sheer anarchy of humanity that ensued. Food and natural resources suddenly became scarce; clean drinking water became the most valuable commodity. (Like the survivors in The Road, most humans have resorted to cannibalism due to lack of food.) One line of Eli’s dialogue rings true: “People kill each other now for things we used to throw away.”
Many survivors of “the flash” were permanently blinded, so sunglasses became a necessity for survival (to conceal blindness); those who retained their vision opt to sport sunglasses as well, presumably as protection from the ultra-bright sun (judging by everyone’s burnt leathery skin, the ozone layer is all but gone). The anarchy created by lack of religion and government, as well as natural resources, has instituted a literal hell on earth inhabited by illiterate and godless humans.
Eli has been walking west (or so his faith tells him) ever since he acquired what is most likely the only remaining copy of the King James Bible. According to Eli, shortly after “the flash” the voice of God told him where a Bible was and provided him with the vague instruction to walk west. (Eli has been walking west for over 30 years, but he has yet to reach the Pacific Ocean. God must be taking him on the scenic route.)
Since possessing the Bible, Eli has acquired super-human fighting abilities: Eli’s aim is true with both gun and knife, as well as bow and arrow; his reflexes are faster than the speed of light; he can smell and hear things that are nowhere in sight; and he is apparently indestructible, or at least bulletproof. (Now that is what I call a powerful Gospel.) Presumably God has granted Eli all of these super powers to ensure that he (and his trusty scripture) will find the mysterious westward destination safely. Eli has become the ultimate fighting (and killing) machine, all thanks to the word of God. Can I get an “amen”? How about an “hallelujah”?
(My theory is that Eli’s super-powers are brought forth by his first edition I-pod, which is unscathed and still functioning perfectly after at least 31 years. Steve Jobs should be proud of his workmanship on that durable piece of machinery.)
Eli finds a small town –- much akin to a ghost town you would see in an old Western movie (so he must be heading west) -– to recharge his I-pod and refill his water bottle. We meet the town tyrant, Carnegie (Gary Oldman), as he leisurely reads a biography on Mussolini. Carnegie is an avid reader, but there is only one book that he truly desires and he has heard rumors of one surviving copy. Recollecting the power of God’s word from the olden days, Carnegie plans to use the Bible to expand the footprint of his dictatorship. Luckily enough for Carnegie, Eli (with Bible in tow) wanders straight into his saloon. This is where we meet Carnegie’s blind concubine, Claudia (Jennifer Beals), and her daughter, Solara (Mila Kunis) -- named after the cause of all the destruction. Solara is a prostitute in Carnegie's old fashioned neighborhood bar and brothel; but by the looks of Solara you would suspect that she is a budding Hollywood starlet on holiday in the post-apocalypse, enjoying the sun while showing off the latest in post-apocalyptic couture.
Solara is dutifully sent to Eli’s room to seduce him into joining Carnegie’s ragtag gang of cronies, but Eli does not bat an eye to her feminine wiles. Instead, Eli sits her down at the table, says grace and breaks bread with Solara (like old people did in the olden days). Solara is instantly enamored by the concept of prayer and God, and promptly converts to become Eli’s first disciple; she wants to learn to read by using the Bible (I suspect that she also wants some God-given super-powers). God be damned if it puts her mother’s life at risk, Solara is heading to the sunny beaches of California with a strangely powerful older man and his mysterious black leatherbound book.
Eli’s gratuitous violence is all in the name of the Christian God, but how is this violence any better than the religious wars of the past (you know, the wars that brought Eli’s world to its near end)? It begs to question: What would Jesus do? Slaughter hundreds of people for essentially getting in his way? Is this trail of dead truly justified? Eli is apparently indestructible (thanks be to God), why does he even need to kill any of his foes? He could easily turn the other cheek and walk away unharmed. And how are we to interpret the scene in which Eli cowardly hides as a motorcycle gang kills two innocent people just for their sack of books? Is it truly Christian to refrain from using your super powers to save the lives of others? And, most importantly, how are we to be sure that if and when Eli has the opportunity to spread the word of God it will not just result in more destruction and mayhem? Eli promises faith and renewal, but have we not heard that same old story before?
Many critics have been displeased by the blatant Christian message and I must admit that I hesitated before seeing The Book of Eli for that very reason. However, my reading of The Book of Eli is not as pro-Christian as others. Contrarily, I find this new brand of Christian-exploitation flick to be a thought-provoking critique and scathing indictment of war mongering in the name of the Christian God –- from the Crusades to the Iraq War –- as well as Bible-thumpers’ greedy and overt blindness to the scientific evidence of global warming.
A lot of the hypocrisies inherent in Eli seem to be purposefully present, to prompt questions and concerns regarding his evangelical agenda. Eli is not to be accepted as the new messiah (though the name Eli is used not without a tinge of religious irony -– Eli is a variant on the name of God as spoken in Arabic, Hebrew, and Aramaic); instead, humankind should be very hesitant to believe scripture which he recites from memory. If there is one thing that we have learned from history, it tends to repeat itself.
That is not to say that The Book of Eli does not have many faults. Though Washington’s amped-up performance is a slight departure from his norm, Oldman is an uninspired cookie-cutter criminal and Kunis’ sole purpose is to ooze style and sex appeal (and if the conclusion of The Book of Eli is any sign –- Kunis will be shepherding a sequel). Apparently, the Hughes Brothers, in their first film since From Hell (2001), blew their load while headily pondering Christian ideologies but they completely forgot to create multi-dimensional supporting characters for Washington to play off of.
My strongest displeasure with The Book of Eli is its shameless glorification of violence. Eli, purportedly channeling God, is a weapon of mass destruction for the audience to marvel and cheer on. This graphic novel-cum-video game brand of violence is totally remorseless (Eli seems to enjoy it), and purportedly for the good of all, and that is a bitter and jaded pill to swallow.
Because of Christianity’s association with the catastrophic devastation, every Bible was supposedly destroyed. There is no mention of the Tanakh or Qur’an, but we are led to suspect that all books (religious or not) were to be destroyed. (What better way to control and subdue future populations of the earth than to ensure the propagation of illiterate imbeciles.)
Those lucky enough to be in safe hiding at the time of “the flash," such as Eli (Denzel Washington) in The Book of Eli" survived to bare witness to the scorched aftermath of the land and the sheer anarchy of humanity that ensued. Food and natural resources suddenly became scarce; clean drinking water became the most valuable commodity. (Like the survivors in The Road, most humans have resorted to cannibalism due to lack of food.) One line of Eli’s dialogue rings true: “People kill each other now for things we used to throw away.”
Many survivors of “the flash” were permanently blinded, so sunglasses became a necessity for survival (to conceal blindness); those who retained their vision opt to sport sunglasses as well, presumably as protection from the ultra-bright sun (judging by everyone’s burnt leathery skin, the ozone layer is all but gone). The anarchy created by lack of religion and government, as well as natural resources, has instituted a literal hell on earth inhabited by illiterate and godless humans.
Eli has been walking west (or so his faith tells him) ever since he acquired what is most likely the only remaining copy of the King James Bible. According to Eli, shortly after “the flash” the voice of God told him where a Bible was and provided him with the vague instruction to walk west. (Eli has been walking west for over 30 years, but he has yet to reach the Pacific Ocean. God must be taking him on the scenic route.)
Since possessing the Bible, Eli has acquired super-human fighting abilities: Eli’s aim is true with both gun and knife, as well as bow and arrow; his reflexes are faster than the speed of light; he can smell and hear things that are nowhere in sight; and he is apparently indestructible, or at least bulletproof. (Now that is what I call a powerful Gospel.) Presumably God has granted Eli all of these super powers to ensure that he (and his trusty scripture) will find the mysterious westward destination safely. Eli has become the ultimate fighting (and killing) machine, all thanks to the word of God. Can I get an “amen”? How about an “hallelujah”?
(My theory is that Eli’s super-powers are brought forth by his first edition I-pod, which is unscathed and still functioning perfectly after at least 31 years. Steve Jobs should be proud of his workmanship on that durable piece of machinery.)
Eli finds a small town –- much akin to a ghost town you would see in an old Western movie (so he must be heading west) -– to recharge his I-pod and refill his water bottle. We meet the town tyrant, Carnegie (Gary Oldman), as he leisurely reads a biography on Mussolini. Carnegie is an avid reader, but there is only one book that he truly desires and he has heard rumors of one surviving copy. Recollecting the power of God’s word from the olden days, Carnegie plans to use the Bible to expand the footprint of his dictatorship. Luckily enough for Carnegie, Eli (with Bible in tow) wanders straight into his saloon. This is where we meet Carnegie’s blind concubine, Claudia (Jennifer Beals), and her daughter, Solara (Mila Kunis) -- named after the cause of all the destruction. Solara is a prostitute in Carnegie's old fashioned neighborhood bar and brothel; but by the looks of Solara you would suspect that she is a budding Hollywood starlet on holiday in the post-apocalypse, enjoying the sun while showing off the latest in post-apocalyptic couture.
Solara is dutifully sent to Eli’s room to seduce him into joining Carnegie’s ragtag gang of cronies, but Eli does not bat an eye to her feminine wiles. Instead, Eli sits her down at the table, says grace and breaks bread with Solara (like old people did in the olden days). Solara is instantly enamored by the concept of prayer and God, and promptly converts to become Eli’s first disciple; she wants to learn to read by using the Bible (I suspect that she also wants some God-given super-powers). God be damned if it puts her mother’s life at risk, Solara is heading to the sunny beaches of California with a strangely powerful older man and his mysterious black leatherbound book.
Eli’s gratuitous violence is all in the name of the Christian God, but how is this violence any better than the religious wars of the past (you know, the wars that brought Eli’s world to its near end)? It begs to question: What would Jesus do? Slaughter hundreds of people for essentially getting in his way? Is this trail of dead truly justified? Eli is apparently indestructible (thanks be to God), why does he even need to kill any of his foes? He could easily turn the other cheek and walk away unharmed. And how are we to interpret the scene in which Eli cowardly hides as a motorcycle gang kills two innocent people just for their sack of books? Is it truly Christian to refrain from using your super powers to save the lives of others? And, most importantly, how are we to be sure that if and when Eli has the opportunity to spread the word of God it will not just result in more destruction and mayhem? Eli promises faith and renewal, but have we not heard that same old story before?
Many critics have been displeased by the blatant Christian message and I must admit that I hesitated before seeing The Book of Eli for that very reason. However, my reading of The Book of Eli is not as pro-Christian as others. Contrarily, I find this new brand of Christian-exploitation flick to be a thought-provoking critique and scathing indictment of war mongering in the name of the Christian God –- from the Crusades to the Iraq War –- as well as Bible-thumpers’ greedy and overt blindness to the scientific evidence of global warming.
A lot of the hypocrisies inherent in Eli seem to be purposefully present, to prompt questions and concerns regarding his evangelical agenda. Eli is not to be accepted as the new messiah (though the name Eli is used not without a tinge of religious irony -– Eli is a variant on the name of God as spoken in Arabic, Hebrew, and Aramaic); instead, humankind should be very hesitant to believe scripture which he recites from memory. If there is one thing that we have learned from history, it tends to repeat itself.
That is not to say that The Book of Eli does not have many faults. Though Washington’s amped-up performance is a slight departure from his norm, Oldman is an uninspired cookie-cutter criminal and Kunis’ sole purpose is to ooze style and sex appeal (and if the conclusion of The Book of Eli is any sign –- Kunis will be shepherding a sequel). Apparently, the Hughes Brothers, in their first film since From Hell (2001), blew their load while headily pondering Christian ideologies but they completely forgot to create multi-dimensional supporting characters for Washington to play off of.
My strongest displeasure with The Book of Eli is its shameless glorification of violence. Eli, purportedly channeling God, is a weapon of mass destruction for the audience to marvel and cheer on. This graphic novel-cum-video game brand of violence is totally remorseless (Eli seems to enjoy it), and purportedly for the good of all, and that is a bitter and jaded pill to swallow.
