A few days ago we watched the movie “The Book of Eli”, starred by Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Jennifer Beals and Mila Kunis. The genre is called post-apocalyptic, that is a movie about what happens after an apocalyptic event (e.g World War, huge natural disaster etc).
I actually don’t really like this kind of movie because of the gloomy and dusty background with violent scenes. In fact, I felt a bit bored watching it….. If you like cowboy movies or movies like “The Departed”, you’d probably like “The Book of Eli”.
But this movie has wonderful Christianity messages in it, and I recommend to watch this movie (not for young children, not appropriate because of some violent scenes).
It is told that after an apocalyptic event, Eli (Denzel Washington) has been walking to west for 30 years, his mission is to bring The King James Version Bible (the only one left in the world) to a safe place. He doesn’t know what kind of place that “safe place” is and where it is exactly, he’s just following a voice telling him to bring the book and go west. The voice say he will be protected against anyone or anything that stands in his way, and apparently the voice doesn’t lie. 30 years walking on foot, facing hijackers and robbers, hunting bizarre animals for food, with limited water supplies, and only an ipod (is that an ipod? Looks like an ipod to me ^_^) as an entertainment, yet he survives. Eli walks by faith, not by sight.
This reminds me a lot of the journey of Abraham. He also didn’t know his destination, he was just following God. God promised him that he will get a very good land to live in, and that his descendants will be many, like sand in the beach and stars in the sky. It will be a big nation and all the people in the world will be blessed by his descendants. Abraham did not see all God’s promises fulfilled, but he still believed. That is why he is called The Father of all Faithful Man. Abraham walked by faith, not by sight.
Eli carries a hand gun, a riffle (I think that’s the name, I’m not really familiar with all types of weapon) and a big blade. He uses them very well, he can easily kill 5 hijackers in one fight scene. One time, he sees some people in motorcycles robbing 2 travellers, they kill the travelers and take all their belongings, but Eli decides not to help, he decides to stay on his path and that it is not his business.
Later on, when Solara (Mila Kunis) joins him in his journey, he regretly says he read the book (Bible) everyday, but he hasn’t live by it.
I remember the story of The Good Samaritan. A priest and a Levite didn’t help the half dead traveller. They surely knew the word of God in the available scriptures and should help the traveller but they didn’t! They read God’s words everyday but they didn’t live by it.
When his ipod needs recharging, Eli stops by a shop in a small town. He meets Carnegie (Gary Oldman) who’s been searching for the Bible to own it. Carnegie finds out that Eli has the Bible and forces Eli to give it to him. When asked why he wants the Bible so much, Carnegie answers the words from the book can make him more powerful than now, he can control more people and people will follow him because of the words from the book.
Hearing Carnegie’s reason, I can’t help thinking about some “Preachers” who are also using the Bible to gain popularity for themselves (not all preachers, but there are some that I know). They call themselves pastor, reverend, God’s servant, even prophet, but what they actually do is just selling God’s words (from the Bible) to gain popularity, money and power.
Carnegie manages to get the Bible from Eli after shooting him in the stomach. In the scene where Eli is shot, the camera focuses on Eli’s face, his expression is like he can’t believe that he’s been shot! I feel that he might be a bit disappointed because the voice has promised to protect him until the Bible arrives at the safe place, he doesn’t understand why he’s shot now and why is Carnegie allowed to take away the Bible. I was kinda hoping for a scene of miracle, maybe suddenly Eli stands up and not wounded by the shot at all, but apparently that’s not how the story goes……
Eli makes an attempt to stand up, as if he doesn’t believe that he will die before taking the Bible to west, but he falls down to the ground…….
I think it is good that there is no scene of miracle in this movie, because that is what going to happen in real life, if you are shot then you will be wounded.
Sometimes people expect miracles, they think if they follow God faithfully then God will make miracles to keep them safe from harm. But that’s not how this life goes. God can make a miracle when He wants to and when He thinks it’s necessary, but not always, it’s not His obligation. Sometimes God lets us have a hard life because He wants us to learn something from it.
In this point, I think Eli is a winner. The shot has wounded him badly but he manages to stand up and walk again heading west. He doesn’t give up, though no miracle happens, he still believes that he will arrive at his destination. And he finally does.
In the end, Eli and Solara arrive at the “safe place”, but without the Bible which is taken by Carnegie. But having been reading it everyday for 30 years, Eli remembers everything that is written in the bible and dictates it to a curator who collects important things from before the apocalypse. Finally, the Bible can be re-printed and Eli dies because of his wounds.
Imagine reading the Bible everyday for 30 years! No wonder he can memorize everything. What a shame that I have lived for 30 years but have never been able to read the whole bible even for once……
And what a struggle a man has made to preserve the Words of God.
When describing life before apocalypse to Solara, Eli says that people waste things that they now kill each other for. It’s true that now people can have the Bible easily that they take it for granted. In certain places, people can’t get access to the Bible and have to put their lifes on the line just to read a torn page of the Bible.
It also applies for other things such as food, clothes, education, time etc. How often are we wasting the things we have, just because we can have plenty of them?
My boss once said : “If you can have it easily, then you take it for granted.”
That is true indeed!
I give 5 stars for the meaningful messages in this movie ^_^
