My Favourite Movies: The Book of Eli



Sorry, but I’m back to the ultra-modern stuff again. I was actually in two minds (come to think of it more that two) about seeing this at the cinema. Despite being a big fan of Denzel and of end-of-the-world films, I was getting a little sick of the genre. I had also discovered that the movie had a religious – actually Christian – theme which might stick in my craw. But I bit the bullet and went along with the usual posse and felt that I could grit my teeth in the appropriate places if required. Fortunately I hardly needed to grit them at all.


In the movie the world we know and love had ended some decades previously. Although it’s never actually explained it appears to have suffered through a nuclear war of some kind. One of the first scenes appears to take place in fall-out with Washington (the man rather than the city) wearing a NBC ‘noddy’ suit – which seemed rather odd as its years after the bombs fell. Anyway, Denzel is making his way through a wonderfully filmed desolate landscape going west. Along the way he meets up with some people who try to take his things. Needless to say it does not go well for the bad-guys. On reaching a town recovering from the devastation we are presented with the figure of Gary Oldman who plays the brutal leader of biker gangs tasked with bringing back books. Oldman is looking for a specific book and soon discovers that Denzel holds a copy – maybe the only copy left in existence. The book is, we quickly discover, the Bible. Washington explains, to his tag-along runaway (played by Mila Kunis) that a voice spoke to him soon after the bombs fell directing him to the Bible and telling him to take it West. This he has been doing for many years. After adventures and misadventures Denzel and Mila deliver the book to Alcatraz (of all places) which has become a repository of the world’s knowledge.


There were several things that I immediately liked very much about this movie. Firstly, the cinematography was outstanding with washed out colours and utter desolation everywhere. Both Washington and Oldman played their parts wonderfully and were a delight separately and especially together when sparks flew. The supporting cast were adequate and largely disposable – indeed largely disposed of by Washington. Cute as she is, Mila Kunis really only plays Mila Kunis and is not that much different from the ungrateful character Jackie in ‘That 70’s Show’. The music was haunting and occasionally spiced up by tunes from Washington’s barely functioning iPod. The action sequences were well handled except for the laughable siege set-piece with the eccentric cannibal husband and wife team played by Frances de la Tour and Michael Gambon which really should have been left on the cutting room floor.


From a philosophical point of view I did struggle with the idea that future generations would be able to build a better world with the Bible in it rather than without it. After all, a Bible inhabiting world had just been practically destroyed. I also struggled with the idea that a God could take such efforts in guiding someone across America, on foot, and giving him the skills to survive for decades in the harshest of environments whilst at the same time condemning billions of people to death in a nuclear holocaust. Of course none of these questions raised their heads during the movie. If God was dissatisfied with his human creations I’m sure there’s a more discriminating way of dealing with them than ICBM’s and MIRVs – but then again I’m not God so who knows! Overall though this was a very creditable end-of-the-world movie which worked for me on several levels. The problems I did have with it, which are the result of over-thinking things a bit, are minor in relation to the enjoyment I had from watching it. It’s certainly worth a mite less than 2 hours of your time if you haven’t seen it already.