“The Book of Eli”: A Post-Apocalyptic Western Starring Denzel Washington

In a post-nuclear America, Eli (Washington), a calm and serious man armed with a machete and a shotgun, journeys across the ravaged landscape. He moves deliberately, pausing only to hunt a cat for food or eliminate bands of marauders preying on travelers. Eli carries a book, a special Book. While the specifics are intentionally obscured, it’s easy to guess its significance. This is no Guinness World Records. Carnegie (Gary Oldman), a local baron who rules the town Eli enters, desperately seeks this book. Through words, bullets, and bloodshed, Carnegie and Eli clash over the fate of the tome: will it remain in this desolate town to serve Carnegie’s petty dictatorship, or will it continue its westward journey with Eli, who has carried it for thirty years?

It’s rare to say this, but in this case, I wholeheartedly recommend seeing this film. “The Book of Eli” isn’t the best movie ever made, and the Hughes brothers, who previously directed “From Hell” (2001), aren’t cinematic geniuses. The persistence of evil, dirty bikers in scrap metal armor in the post-apocalyptic setting and the underutilization of Gary Oldman are frustrating.

A Visionary Flawed

However, there’s a redeeming quality. The Hughes brothers fall into the category of visionaries whose talent doesn’t quite match their visions. It seems they dreamt of Eli: an invulnerable, silent man wandering a destroyed world with a book, unstoppable. This world was painted in grays and rusty ochre, adorned with ruins, blinding sunlight, and Eli’s old iPod. The Hughes brothers were captivated by the words, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” They scrutinized Eli’s book until they understood its essence, crafting a finale that alone makes the film worthwhile. The bikers, however, were not part of this vision. The Hughes brothers borrowed heavily from “Mad Max,” sprinkled in elements of “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” and added a few film buff jokes to ensure no one took it too seriously.

Faith, Fury, and Format

The result is peculiar: perhaps the best film about faith since “The Passion of the Christ” (2004), and one of Washington’s best roles since “Man on Fire” (2004), all presented in a format reminiscent of Grand Theft Auto. One could endlessly dissect the flaws of “The Book of Eli”: Is 30 years too long to cross America? Was it worth casting Tom Waits in a nearly unrecognizable cameo? Why do women still wear fishnet stockings even after an atomic war? And why does every neo-Western require a saloon and a wronged girlfriend of the main villain?

Ultimately, a Victory

But winners are not judged. After all, what do fishnet stockings matter in the face of true faith?