The Book of Eli

Plot: More than 30 years after a nuclear war, America lies in ruins, peopled by a small percentage of survivors who fight over the few remaining factory products & scraps of food – and sometimes they eat each other too. During the first months after the dust settled, books were blamed for inciting the war and thus got burned by the millions. Eli (Denzel Washington) is a man with a big secret who has spent the past three decades walking westwards (apparently the States got spread out wider by the blast…) to bring the last remaining bible to a safe haven in hopes of saving mankind. On his way, he comes to a small town run by an ambitious boss (Gary Oldman), who is always on the lookout for a good book.

Review: The post-apocalyptic genre has for some escapists long been (at least in North America) one way of exercising their hope that maybe mankind would finally get it right if it suddenly found itself starting over from scratch. This time around, Eli is the requisite loner-saviour, a kind of unbreakable MacGyver/Aragorn/Teddy Roosevelt who only kills bad guys if they refuse his initial plea for calm. He is what makes the movie very watchable.

While there are a number of action scenes, this movie is quieter than most nuclear hangover stories, with Washington adding some of his patented dignified suffering to the classic independent survivor. A solid ensemble cast (Jennifer Beals, Tom Waits, Mila Kunis, Ray Stevenson – “Rome”s charming hunk of a solider, Pulo – and a surprisingly sedate Oldman) helps the movie along, adding depth where other movies of the genre are usually satisfied with cartoon characters.

Otherwise, there are a few bits that make no sense (Why are roads still straight and easy to navigate after 30 years of neglect? Why do people always feel the need to wear leather in hot and dusty post-nuclear deserts? If books are suddenly so rare and everyone’s so hungry, why don’t those who can still read write new stories in exchange for food?), but I suppose only geeks like me really care.

A Christian post-apocalyptic movie that thankfully has nothing whatsoever to do with Mel Gibson, “The Book of Eli” delves into the question of how the bible has always been seen as a source of spiritual guidance for some, and a means of controlling the masses for others. A solid and thoughtful piece of entertainment that tries to save everyone’s soul.
(Katrin Gygax)