Viewing Blog 1: "Book of Eli"

"Lay that hand on me again, and your not going to get it back." If a cinematic tale could capture the grittiness and dilapidated state of just total apocalyptic destruction, the "Book of Eli" is it! As a movie goer, the plot is purely Freudian and moves fluidly to a foreseeable "all hope is not lost" ending. However, the ending might be debatable. Spoiler alert! As the main character Eli bites the dust, he finishes relaying the good Old Testament to the "preservers" of culture and art. The closing scene of Solara walking down the dusty never ending road foretells of several possible outcomes. A) She keeps Eli's legend alive by assisting when she can. B) She spreads the gospel of The Lord to all willing to listen. C) She returns to the town where she grew up and seeks revenge for Eli's death and proceeds to rescue her mother from Carnegie. All of them are plausible and really give little hope, in the short run, of humanity's betterment when it comes to the terms of an apocalyptic lifestyle.

The story, in a whole, also provides viewers an interesting hypothesis as to the cultural shift that would occur if America was setback to a time before currency debuted here. When Eli visits Carnegie's town, he barters with a tinker to restore power in his prized MP3 player. There is no form of currency exchanging hands, but merely goods needed for entertainment's sake or survival.

The movie is just enjoyable to watch. The hero, portrayed by Denzel Washington, is one of my favorite actors of all time. I really appreciate his ability to convey the sense of hopelessness that usually encompasses apocalyptic movies. His character's determination to fulfilling a predestined journey is a great example of how to overcome challenges and achieve one's life's goals. The morals of the movie center around the human condition and kindness in a world that seems to have none. Solara saw something more in Eli that even he didn't realize or sees until the tragic end. She saw that even though he was a natural killer and survivor, he was also compassionate and, at times, generous with his knowledge. He helped people that he didn't have to help and risked everything to do so. He probably did this to get his jollies off. There are studies that have been conducted that show true happiness is found in helping others. He was just trying to find his happy place! Selfish? Selfless?

He also shared his wisdom. That sharing of knowledge and past experiences is also a valuable lesson Solara needed to adapt in an apocalyptic world. This is a thematic lesson we need to incorporate into our own lives. Without having an open mind to seek out new information and one willing to share old information, a generational gap of knowledge might occur. Hence, the full circle of doom for the human race could become complete. But that didn't happen in the movie, therefore hope still remains.  

"So that's where I parked my car!" 

"Rush hour traffic anyone?" 

"Yeah, I told you that you weren't going to get that back."