Christ and Pop Culture
The world of The Book of Eli is a vast wasteland of death and destruction, controlled by criminals, plagued by cannibals, and rampant with injustice. The nuclear war that left the world in such disarray was caused by religion, particularly abuses of the Bible. Thus Bibles were systematically destroyed and only one Bible remains—the “Book” of Eli, the movie’s protagonist—which is the last known King James Bible. Thus Eli has a book that many want destroyed and others want to steal in order to exploit the masses. Surprisingly, Book of Eli is not a slam on Christianity or the Bible. Elements of the movie are encouraging but unfortunately the movie is wrought with bad and downright ugly elements as well. Before you read any further, you should be aware that the following review will spoil some of the plot.
The Good
The Bible is not regarded with disdain. In fact Eli cherishes it, protects it with his life, and reads it religiously. He even quotes it (Psalm 23 no less) while dismembering raiders and wasteland cannibals in typical Hollywood fashion. Eli is a rare man to find in the wasteland, a man of principle. He is incredibly powerful as he dispatches ruffians with ease throughout the many action sequences. Furthermore, he doesn’t steal, he is chaste, and he even reminds rapists and murders, “you are going to give an account for what you did” as he kills them. Eli never starts fights though, he only finishes them. From the very beginning Eli is clearly a noble man with a noble quest.
This quest, to protect the Bible, however, drives Eli to overlook much of the injustice that is taking place in the world around him. Eli, obviously specially gifted in combat, in one important scene, hides while a group of raiders rape and kill two women. This was perhaps the most powerful and disturbing scene in the movie—because Eli keeps telling himself, “Its not of my concern, stick to the mission” as he turns a blind eye to this wicked act. So very early on, we see that though Eli is a man of principle, he neglects to stand up for justice when he could have.
This act of negligence allows for the most important scene in the movie to take place. Later on Eli is forced to choose between giving Carnegie (the movie’s antagonist) the location of the Bible and thereby relinquishing it and the life of a close friend. This is the moment that made the movie for me—Eli chooses to save his friend’s life and give up the location of the Bible. When asked why he says, “I spent too much of my life trying to protect the book, I forgot to live by what I learned from it.” This moment in the movie teaches a very important lesson and proves Eli’s character in a powerful way. The lesson is simple—practice what you preach and Eli proves that he does that—he seeks to live by the Word he has been protecting. This moment, for me, was worth the price of admission (I am easily pleased!) . . . now on to the bad.
The Bad
Throughout the film, religion is painted as dangerous and destructive. Religion is seen as a power-play—teach religion and you can control people and gain power, especially over the weak-minded. This didn’t bother me at all, in fact, I think this is Jesus’ big beef with the Pharisees—they are very religious but their hearts are far from God. And the cross was the ultimate religious power play on their part. Further there are large strands of “Christianity” that whether consciously or not, buy into this concept that religion is power and control. Religion certainly can be destructive and has been destructive in significant ways throughout history, but this idea wasn’t explored in any significant way, it was just laid out as a given. How the nuclear war that left America devastated to the point where it is ruled by raiders and plagued with cannibals. This was probably the most frustrating aspect of the movie for me because it had so much potential to explore the dangers of religion but just assumed this take on religion to be understood by the audience.
During the war and after the war books were systematically burned—particularly the Bible, which was for some reason particularly blamed for the war. Again this is another huge hole in the plot—we never really get a clear answer as to why books were deemed evil and how exactly the Bible was used as ammunition for the start of the war. We know that Carnegie wants Eli’s Bible to “have the words” to control the masses and subjugate them further to his will—I just continually felt like complex arguments were being trivialized and I didn’t find this very believable.
Finally, the movie’s best moment was also simultaneously its worst moment. When Eli said, “I spent too much time trying to protect the book that I forgot to live by what I read in it,” he followed that statement up with a terrible summation of the teaching of the Bible. Had Eli simply realized that he hadn’t stood up for justice and needed to live by what he read in the Bible, the lesson would have been learned and it would have been a glorious moment in a very dark movie. However Eli did not stop there, he goes on to summarize what he read in the Bible with this silly statement, “do for others what you would do for yourself, that’s what I got out of it anyway.” Really? That is what you got out of it Eli? Did you read it? Was there anything in there about the cross? Or at least about Jesus? The greatest commandment is to love the LORD with all the heart, soul, and mind (Matt. 22:37), the second is to love your neighbor as yourself! At the end of the movie we learn that Eli had memorized the entire Bible and yet he summarized it quite poorly.
I don’t expect movies to get the gospel right, but Eli’s comment makes the Bible out to be a guide book for a morally balanced life—if the Bible is worth protecting so valiantly, then certainly it is more than a moral guide book. Bottom line is that there is nothing Christian about the way Eli summarizes the Bible. Again, I didn’t expect Eli to be explicitly Christian, but his summary of the Bible seems devoid of any serious reading of the New Testament.
The Ugly
The post-apocalyptic world of The Book of Eli just isn’t believable. Again there are too many elements of the world that simply are not explained and are simply assumed. Certainly the screenwriter and the directors were being intentionally mysterious about the war that left America so desolate, but the war only took place 30 years prior to the events of the movie! I couldn’t get past this—how did everyone become illiterate in such a short amount of time? How come no one, except for Eli and Carnegie, seems to remember what life was like before the war . . . it was only 30 years ago! Also, Mila Kunis’ performance is grating—I can’t tell if that is her fault or the screen writer’s.
I should also mention that Book of Eli is very violent. I may get in trouble for this, but this was one of the few elements of the movie that made its world believable. Eli’s stand for justice is illuminated by the brutality of the world he lives in. Unfortunately this was one of the few things about the world that was believable. But even here, sometimes the violence is a little over the top–probably in hopes of making the movie more appealing to young males.
While Book of Eli reminds us to practice what we preach, the many holes in the plot keep it from being a memorable film. And in the end, its greatest lesson is dampened by a careless summation of the Bible that reduces the Bible’s teaching to moralism.
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