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January 21, 2010

Benji Tunnell: ‘Eli’ brims with hope, hellfire

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Thu Jan 21, 2010, 06:40 PM CST

I’ve often wondered what happened to Jules from “Pulp Fiction” in the subsequent years since leaving his hitman life to walk the earth. After finding his religious reawakening at the end of the barrel of a gun, he gave up his life of murder and shakedowns to explore his rekindled faith.

But you can’t take the bad out of the man, and with his unique skills I imagine he would have been a missionary one would choose not to mess with. “The Book of Eli” is a glimpse into what might have become of our wandering shepherd had he lived to see the apocalypse.

The story is set about 30 years after a great war ripped a hole in the sky, flooding the world with the sun’s unfiltered rays and blinding a good portion of the population. Eli (Denzel Washington) is himself a bit of a prophet, but his purpose is very defined and his tools are not only the word, but guns, swords and very fast reflexes.

He is heading west, destination unknown but driven by a higher power, to deliver his book. Gary Oldman is Carnegie, the head of a small town of survivors with aspirations to expand into something bigger. To do this, he believes that he needs the book that Eli possesses.

Given the religions undertones of the advertising, as well as the character of the man who possesses the book, I don’t think it will spoil anything to tell you: The book that everyone wants, and is worth killing for, is the Bible.

Said to be the cause of the great war, every last copy of the good book was thought to have been destroyed. It is Eli’s task to make sure that it doesn’t cease to exist.

The contrast of the two characters and their reasons for desiring the book are very interesting. Carnegie is a false prophet, intent on capturing the words and bending them to manipulate and control his population. Eli is a believer intent on protecting the words he has been entrusted with. The two must obviously clash, and they do so spectacularly.

It is a bit of a surprising change of pace to see the Hughes brothers directing this film. Best known for such violent and bleak films as “Menace II Society” and “Dead Presidents” (not to mention their documentary “American Pimp”), they seemed unlikely choices to helm a film with such deeply religious spiritual themes. Yet they do so with a seemingly guided hand.

Washington is in fine form yet again. His Eli is a pillar of moral strength, intent on doing what is right for the right reasons. He kills — but only when he has to, and with a great deal of regret. Stoic and quiet, he is as virtuous a man as one would most likely find in such a world.

A lot will probably be said about the twist ending. I won’t ruin it for you, but I will say that it does stretch the bounds of believability quite a bit. In replaying the film in my mind, it doesn’t quite fit the setup of the movie.

That being said, I’m willing to grant a little latitude for a film that earns it, and I believe this one did.

The world of “Eli” is a bleak one. Yet tucked away in all of that misery and sadness is just a bit of hope that man can learn and that redemption can be found. Eli may not be Jules, but both men carry the same belief: A man can change.



Rating: Three reels

Address correspondence to Benji Tunnell, c/o The Joplin Globe,

P.O. Box 7, Joplin, MO 64802 or benjitunnell@gmail.com.

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