|
 |
|
|
|
I wasn't so sure about The Book of Eli at first. We thought about seeing this movie a few weeks ago, but didn't have the time, and I wasn't sure I even cared! Then we decided to see it this weekend.
The R rating was a bit of a warning, and as well as the theme of the hopeless end of the world with the return of jungle survival and the breakdown of society. Sometimes I like this sort of entertainment, and sometimes it's too much for me and I can't take the despair.
The previews were all about scary and gory things that I would not enjoy. This heightened my uncertainty about the choice of this movie. Usually the previews are a good indicator of what is to come.
My first impression was that everything in the movie was gray and brown, with various shades of dirt. The whole thing looked like a desert, only without any foliage at all, and almost no animals.
My second impression was that this movie is reminiscent of a book I read several years ago, Mara and Dann: An Adventure. Several centuries into the future, humankind is living primarily in Africa, in severe drought conditions, with the knowledge of humanity's history mostly lost. Even basic math was rarely understood.
The Book of Eli is also set in the future, in a place where water is scarce, young people have lost the ability to read, and most people have no idea what a television is. It is a return to basic survival, with the majority of daily life not much different than it was in the middle ages, minus the religion and the water.
As the story unfolds, we realize that religion was at the heart of a world war, the end result being that religious books had been destroyed. There is an ongoing search for the one known remaining Bible.
I won't ruin the ending, but I will mention that there is a surprise that is difficult to anticipate, and is also somewhat unbelievable. But it makes for an excellent ending.
The themes that emerge throughout the movie include:
- the role of religion in society
- the role of government in society
- implied reflections upon the way that scriptures are created and preserved over time
- the questions of good and evil
- the rapidity with which a society can lose its history
- the role of faith in society
I ended up really loving this movie. But if you go see it, be ready for some gruesome and heartless scenes, where pure evil is rampant. It's a little too plausible for my comfort ... especially since I've worked in corrections and am sensitive to how evil some people be.
|
|
|
|
|
(1)
NO COMMENTS HAVE BEEN ADDED TO THIS ARTICLE