The Book of Eli Film Review

In the film The Book of Eli, we are introduced to a character that is never exactly named who is walking west on a journey that God has led him to take. Throughout his journey, there are many scenes that relate to the Print Era and there are also very many scenes that are extremely significant in the film. In my paper, I will be discussing these scenes and I will also be discussing my interpretation on the film’s meaning, and my final reaction to the film. In the film, we are introduced to a post-apocalyptic society where things we find to be extremely common, and maybe even useless, are very rare and prized possessions. Books are one of these rare items and something that only the wealthy have, the wealthy being Carnegie. This relates to the beginning of the Print Era because in the beginning of the era, only the wealthy had books due to the fact that they took so long to produce. Books took so long to produce in the beginning of the Print Era because they had to be written by a scribe instead of just being printed which takes about an eighth of the time it takes to write out an entire book. Books in the town that Carnegie runs are very rare due to the fact that there was an apocalypse and majority of the books were destroyed. Carnegie is the only wealthy one and the only one in power, therefore he has majority of all of the books that he steals from others, even though he is only looking for a certain one. Throughout the film, there are very many significant points that stand out to audience members. One of the significant points that stood out to me was the fact that the apocalypse happened over the bible. Carnegie states in the movie that the reason the war happened was because of the bible in the first place and because of this, he wants to find one so that he can rule everyone by using its word. This brings me to my second significant point, the fact that Carnegie wants the bible so that he can get the people to do what he wants them to. The fact that he does this shows how big of an influence words can really have on people. Just because the bile says a certain thing, the people will have faith and believe in it. Carnegie wants to twist the bible’s words and use them to get what he wants, which shows just how powerful the way something is said and the way the meaning is twisted can cause people to do things that they normally wouldn’t do. A final point that I found significant was the fact that when Carnegie finally got his hands on the bible, it was in brail and since he could not read it, it became useless. Carnegie’s wife was blind and could read it and realized that she did not have to tell him what the bible said, therefore Carnegie had no power whatsoever. This really stood out to me because it shows that you may have all of the information in the world right in front of your face, but if you cannot interpret it or comprehend it, it truly is useless. My interpretation of the film’s meaning is that the access of books and knowledge is really what has created our society today and without them, we would be absolutely no where. In the film, Carnegie is searching for the bible because he knows it has the power to control the people. Carnegie realizes that if he is the only one with the knowledge of the bible, everyone will listen to him. As I stated earlier, when Carnegie finally gets his hands on the bible, it is of no use to him because it is written in brail and he cannot interpret him. The town then rebels against him after realizing that there is no reason to have Carnegie over powering them because he is just like them. Obtaining knowledge plays such a crucial role in this film because it shows that you can be in complete control if you are the only one with the knowledge of something. When “Eli” (Denzel Washington) visits Alcatraz prison, which has been converted into a building that holds books and artifacts, he finds that it is filled with all sorts of information that had been destroyed in the apocalypse. One of the most important things that is missing in the building is the bible. Eli has the bible completely memorized and just like before the Print Era, a scribe is required to write down everything that Eli says. This scene in the film really shows how lucky we are to live in a society where books can be printed in hours rather than taking days or months at a time to complete. Because of the Print Era, books can be produced extremely quick and cheaply which makes information available to everyone around the world instead of just the wealthy. I really enjoyed this movie more than I thought I would. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time whereas before watching, I thought I would strongly dislike it and not be very interested at all. I definitely think that the film offered an accurate depiction of what could happen during the post-apocalypse because in today’s society, we do not realize how lucky we are to be able to have all of this information right in front of our faces. People of the world have access to so much more than they realize and without it, we would be completely lost and barely even stand a chance. I agree with the message of walking by faith that is portrayed throughout the movie. “Eli” has no idea where he is going the entire time but he keeps walking a certain way and doing certain things because God told him too. Eli gets into so many different fights and situations and always comes out alive because God is watching over him. I also agree with the message that knowledge is what puts people in charge and that everyone should be informed. In today’s society, a lot of people just believe what others say and do not even think for themselves. If people would do the research, they may find things that they believed to be true to actually be false. Carnegie was going to use the bible for evil and to control everyone, which was not the bible’s purpose whatsoever. My final grade for The Book of Eli is a solid “A”. I chose this grade because the movie had very many twists and turns that were unexpected and kept the audience on the edge of their seats the entire time. This movie also related to anyone who watched it because we are all apart of a society where information and technology is available and the movie shows what could potentially happen if it was all taken away. I really enjoyed watching this film and it really changed my view on how important knowledge and books are. I would definitely recommend this film to others and I am thankful that you let us watch it in class.