Moses vs. The Cannibals

The Book of Eli is this year’s The Postman, says the Baron’s movie critic.
By Jonathan Simmons

In the Hughes Brothers’ first film since From Hell, Denzel Washington plays Eli, an archetypal lone warrior who is introduced to us while wandering a post-apocalyptic landscape. This is how a lot of post-apocalyptic films start, and it’s what I imagine when I think about the genre, even when a film slightly diverges from this path, such as in The Quiet Earth (1985) or A Boy and His Dog (1975).

A more recent post-apocalyptic film that you might have avoided is The Postman (1997), which featured Kevin Costner as director and lead. In it, he plays a wanderer not unlike Eli, though he’s more social, exchanging performances of Shakespeare for food and lodging.
Both The Book of Eli and The Postman are supposed to be about bringing something important back to humanity. In The Postman, that something is the mail, which symbolizes hope, order, and the values of a dead nation. In The Book of Eli, that something is the King James Bible, which symbolizes, well, the Bible. There isn’t much talk of religion or theology; it’s mainly about the book and Eli’s drive to keep it safe until he can get it where it will be needed.

Eli makes the mistake of entering a town, where he meets his antagonist, Carnegie, played by a scenery chewing Gary Oldman. Carnegie wants the Bible because it will help him maintain and expand his power. Eli won’t give it to him. In a way, this also parallels what happens in The Postman, in that the Postman is pursued, not for what he carries, but for what he represents.
The Postman inspires those that he comes across, challenging the tenuous rule of General Bethlehem. Eli doesn’t threaten Carnegie, and has no interest in inspiring humanity or leading a revolution. He simply wants to deliver his book and people keep getting in this way. The exception to this is Solar, played by Mila Kunis, who follows Eli like a lost puppy.
The Postman is not a good film, in that it begins with an absurd premise and never really sells us on it. Kevin Costner can take some of the blame for this, but I actually think he elevates the film above its horrible screenplay. Maybe if Kevin Costner directed The Book of Eli, I’d be more pleased with the result, though that seems unlikely. What other reviewer would suggest such a thing?
I’m only partially joking. Say what you will about Kevin Costner, but the man has a feel for the Western, and while he tends on occasion towards cloyingly sweet, he never fails to supply us with some sort of emotional content, whether it’s found in interpersonal relationships or in a particularly well framed shot of a mountain range.
The Hughes Brothers are almost unequalled in their ability to construct an image that is both captivating and alien at the same time. In the case of The Book of Eli, you’re compelled to stare at the screen in wonder, but that only lasts for a moment as it quickly dawns on you that while everything is artfully constructed, every bit of dirt and grime put there by a brush or the nimble fingers of a craftsperson, it is a dead thing, not unlike a corpse after it’s been to the embalmer.
Eli is not a character, at least not in the traditional sense of the word. He’s a force of nature: for all intents and purposes invincible. And he cuts through his enemies who are little more than deranged savages with ease and precision. There are moments when we see a glimpse of a human being beneath the dark glasses and grim demeanour, but these are fleeting, and more often than not, tied to the rituals of his life, such as hygiene and prayer.
Our pleasure as an audience is reserved for the villain, who, despite Gary Oldman’s best efforts, is unimportant—a mere obstacle. Mila Kunis might have endeared us to Solar, becoming the Cub to Eli’s Lone Wolf, but she comes across as more of a plot device than someone we can empathize with. She should serve as our window into a harsh landscape, but she sits apart from it, naively going about her toils, accepting of her fate as chattel without the requisite emotional scars.
There is one area which The Book of Eli could excel at and that is violence. There is a pleasure to be had in seeing stylized massacres, but it is a trivial kind of pleasure, devoid of that necessary anchor which is character. We neither care about the death dealer nor his unfortunate victims. It’s much like watching someone harshly poke a potato with a fork.
As an atheist I should reasonably be expected to despise this film and attack it, not only on matters of religion, but morality as well. Unfortunately, my apathy was established early on in my viewing experience, so the most offensive aspects of the film washed over me like white noise. Instead of seeing The Book of Eli, I recommend sitting down in a dark room with a Bible and putting on some Christian Metal; the experience will be much more rewarding.

Jonathan Simmons is the movie critic for the Baron. He also appears on the pop-culture radio show “From Tucker Park Road” on CFMH 107.3 FM every Tuesday at 3:00 pm.