Movie Monday: The Book of Eli

The last preview I saw before going to see The Book of Eli told me that it was going to “rock my soul.”

Understandably, I found this to be a bit unbelievable. I’ve seen some great movies in my day, but I don’t know that I can say I’ve ever felt my soul was changed by a film.

Now I don’t feel that it rocked my soul, but I will tell you that The Book of Eli is going to be a definite candidate for best film of 2010 (unless 2010 lets loose a wave of talent and intelligence that I just don’t think Hollywood has anymore). It’s an epic tale of faith and destiny, of walking in the dark with only unwavering belief as your guiding light.

Also, Denzel Washington cuts a lot of people to pieces with a machete.

The Scene
30 years prior to the film’s opening, a war of indeterminate origin and outcome burned the world, turning every forest, river, and city into a desolate wasteland. It is a world where people kill each other over things our society would throw away. The closest thing most people get to a bath is a wipe-down with a 30-year-old moist towelette. It is a world where the unending task of simply staying alive for one more day proves to be more than many can handle. Bandits, raiders, thieves, rapists, murderers, even cannibals prowl the wastes, taking whatever they want and leaving their victims (if they’re lucky) to die.

The Characters
Eli (Denzel Washington): Eli is a survivor of the Flash, the cataclysmic end of the war that turned our beautiful planet into a desert. He has wandered the country for 30 years, led only by a divine mission to ferry his most precious possession to the place it is most needed. Blaming religion for the war, the people of Earth tracked down every single Bible on the planet, save for the one in Eli’s possession. Guided only by his unshakable faith and protected only by his considerable skill at killing people, Eli travels the country, not knowing where his journey will take him.

Carnegie (Gary Oldman): Another survivor of the Flash, Carnegie has built a town around an underground spring he found in his childhood. This abundance of clean water has made Carnegie a very powerful man. He is intelligent, educated, and ruthless, a dangerous combination in a world that is mostly full of stupid, illiterate thugs who just need a leader to show them where to find the best loot. Carnegie is searching for a Bible, knowing the power its teachings can give him over his peasants and desiring to rule as much of the shattered and burned world he can.

Solara (Mila Kunis): Hot. Solara is the daughter of Carnegie’s… consort. She is often forced to do his bidding for fear that he will hurt her mother, and thus she is entangled in Carnegie and Eli’s struggle for the Book. She is naïve and inexperienced, but her desire to escape and to bring down Carnegie eventually draws her after Eli on the road. Did I mention that she’s hot?

Reasons I Liked it
1. Denzel Washington was in it. Denzel Washington is the man.

2. Gary Oldman, also the man.

3. Mila Kunis, despite the fact that she looks good no matter what she’s wearing, is actually a pretty good actress.

4. It was much less of an action film than I had expected. Obviously it’s the tale of a violent conflict, but it is as much a tale of faith and the human spirit as it is a movie about people killing each other.

5. Social commentary. I love social commentary. When asked about “the world before,” Eli tells Solara that people were wasteful. “We threw away things people kill each other for now,” he tells her. (Hint: he’s talking about us.)

The Book of Eli is a moving story about a man’s journey in the face of incredible odds. It is also full of intense (but not overdramatic) action sequences. And it offers a not-so-vague warning about our future if we can’t learn to temper our lifestyles.

It’s a movie that actually made me think, not just a film I saw because it was entertaining. I highly recommend it.