Country:
USA
Recognizable Faces:
Denzel Washington
Gary Oldman
Milas Kunis
Jennifer Beals
Directed by:
Allen & Albert Hughes
The Hughes brothers and me have this terrific understanding. They can keep doing gritty, violent and upstanding movies where the black man sticks it up to an oppressive society and I'm going to keep watching them until rapture comes. Speaking of which, the trailers for The Book Of Eli didn't quite convince me to spend some of my hard earned money to see it in theaters. The word on the street was that the prized book Eli kept with him was a Bible, which sent me into this whole Agnostic "Oh-No!-Not-Another-Movie-To-Tell-People-Religion-Is-Important" rant. After viewing, I am very glad to announce you that I couldn't have been more wrong.
The plot can seem a bit simplistic at first glance. Eli (Washington) is carrying the last bible left, thirty years after the Apocalypse. Told by an inner voice to walk the Good Book west, he does just that, with his faith as his only friend along the way. Stumbling across one of the only towns in the wasteland (who awesomely looks like a Sergio Leone Far-West pueblo with nuclear radiations), Eli will be invited by Carnegie (Oldman) the town creator and magistrate who is too, in search for a Bible. He heard of this powerful book who men once fought for. Speaking in witch doctor terms, Carnegie is convinced that the words in the book will give him power and control over the desperate folk of the American Wasteland.
So the book itself isn't the point, but the struggle over it rather is. Eli is interested in keeping it safe because of its power to unite people, give them hope and the will to work together to rebuild the word as Carnegie wants to use it for control and personal gain. The stripped lifestyle of the post-Apocalyptic fellow gives a fresh look to the religious struggle. Things are made simple as the viewer is given a choice by a man of faith and vision or a man of a cold rationale. Like I said it's a little oversimplifying the point, but the movie doesn't force you to take stance as Eli himself struggles to read the signs of God and is in no way a religious fanatic.
Despite a heavy use of the trendy Hollywood filters, The Book Of Eli looks great. Allen & Albert Hughes aren't scared to use general shots and a static camera to capture the beauty of a landscape or the integral violence of a fight. It's been a while since someone had the balls to do that with the shaky camera trend. The slow and hypnotic course of a cloudy sky as Eli walks across the frame is of a dazzling beauty. The frames are most often very bare, but the Hughes brothers put so much work into it that it becomes emotionally charged and challenging. Therein lies their strength: simple but strong images.
A down note might be the acting. Denzel Washington is efficient, but Eli is nothing but the stereotypical lone wanderer. He's a bit more open-hearted than the usual, but he's not memorable. Mila Kunis as Solara is painful and useless to the plot. Well, not really, but she's useless to Eli's mission. The two best performances of the movie are made by Gary Oldman and Jennifer Beals as the couple torn apart by a demented power struggle. Their acting is a little slapstick'ish, but it looks straight out of Fritz Lang's Metropolis and therefore fits the movie.
There are many ways to appreciate The Book Of Eli. Some will appreciate its slow, behemoth beauty and others will debate endlessly over the place its trying to give to religion. I'll admit they're a bit positive, but they make the most convincing argument for the need for religion since a while. It's not Dead Presidents, but The Book Of Eli takes a hard swing at it. A must watch.
SCORE: 88%
