Sarah Levow, Misc #1

Book of Eli

The Book of Eli is a post-apocalyptic film about mankind trying to restart. Many people have resorted to foraging and cannibalism to survive. Carnegie is a man who is trying to control a community and become a powerful figure in what is left of the world. He has gained power and fear from his people, but he still needs “the book,” which viewers discover to be the Bible. He sends out men to look for copies that are left, but most were destroyed. There is only rumor that one copy still exists. That one copy is in the hands of Eli, a blind nomad who is destined to protect the copy in his possession. He claims that God came to him and led him to the final copy, which lay amongst the rubble of a post-apocalyptic town. He makes it his mission to make sure the book is safe, and martyrs himself for its protection.

Before I saw the film, I wondered if the name “Eli” had any significance in this film, so I did some research. I learned that Eli, in Hebrew, translates to “My God,” and in the Bible he was a priest who trained the prophet Samuel in his youth. Eli, in the film, is certainly not God, and he is not a priest either, so I wondered if his name could be related to Elijah, the prophet. Elijah translated to “Yahweh is God” and he was a prophet. Elijah was known as a prophet and for raising the dead and bringing fire from the sky. The connection here is that Eli does act as a sort of prophet, carrying the only known copy of the Bible and trying to spread the word of God through a doomed land. He also does seem to dodge death's grasp multiple times and dies only after he has completed his mission, despite multiple wounds.

In relation to class, I feel that The Book of Eli applies well to our conversations at the beginning of the year on the sacred and the profane. The post-apocalyptic world that the film is set in is the profane world. People live in a constant cycle of sin: selling their bodies, feeding off of their own species, killing without thought or guilt. Eli holds the one text that, if used properly, can restore order and turn the setting into a sacred world. The film also alludes to mysterium as Solara, a young woman who was under the control of Carnegie, but escapes to follow Eli, constantly asks Eli about the text, but is only given obscure answers, such as quotes. She knows that the text is powerful, but she does not ever understand why. She can only see glimpses as she ocassionally sees Eli put the text to work.