THE BOOK OF ELI

US, 2010, 118 minutes, Colour.
Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis, Ray Stevenson, Jennifer Beals, Frances de la Tour, Michael Gambon, Tom Waites.
Directed by Alan and Albert Hughes.

Welcome, once again, to the end of civilisation as we know it and introducing the wasteland of post-apocalyptic America. Recently, this has been done with tongue in cheek humour in Zombieland and with earnest seriousness in the fine adaptation of Cormac Mc Carthy's novel, The Road, by John Hillcoat.

Eli has been wandering the devastated United States for thirty years. He is a survivor who is quick, very quick, with arrows, guns and a blade that would make some Samurai envious. Speaking of Samurai, he is the latest in the tradition of Mad Max heroes, a sign of contradiction, violent weapons master but straightforward sage who can be courteous and wise. Since he is played by Denzel Washington the latter almost goes without saying, so it is a surprise to see Denzel wielding the weapons.

The itinerary is familiar enough though the look of it, all desaturated colour and painter-like framing of scenes and of iconic buildings and roads, is quite distinctive and arresting. As is the soundtrack.

Eli shoots a wildcat for meat, is ambushed by a flesh-eating bikie gang which is literally dismembered, and rapidly. A gang rapes a wandering woman and Eli refuses to be involved. He chances on a town, ruled over by power-hungry Carnegie (Gary Oldman reminiscent of his Dracula in look and manner) who has search parties out looking for a book which will enhance his power and offer him a way to control people and their minds. We soon realise that it is the Bible – copies of which seem to have been destroyed because of the role of religion in the destructive wars.

Carnegie runs a bar and has a hold over a blind woman, Claudia (Jennifer Beals) and her daughter (Mila Kunis). The daughter is meant to seduce Eli but, instead, helps him. This brings on more disasters, especially for an elderly couple, with US-symbolism names of George and Martha (Michael Gambon and Frances de la Tour), who offer shelter and tea in china crockery.

The final goal, according to Eli, is 'West'. Actually, it is a destroyed San Francisco though, ironically, Alcatraz is intact and is the centre, under the leadership of Malcolm McDowell?, where culture could begin again - with the help of the book of Eli and Christian teaching which takes its library place beside the Quran and other sacred texts.

The film is intriguing rather than involving, something like a futuristic western. The character of Eli is especially intriguing for religious audiences. He is a man who has become the bible incarnate even though he cannot always put it into practice.

After making some strong African- American gang films (Menace II Society, Dead Presidents), the Hughes twins, Alan and Albert, made the intriguing Jack the Ripper film, with Johnny Depp, From Hell.

(Post-script: Some secularists have been mightily offended by this promotion of sacred texts and the role of religion which they see as fostering war and devastation and, because Eli begins with the book of Genesis, some commentators have seen this as part of a Creationist plot – now there's a different conspiracy theory, especially since one of the books that has survived, even out in the wasteland is The Da Vinci Code!)

1.The appeal of post-apocalyptic films? The devastated Earth, devastated United States? The reasons for the popularity, grim stories, recovery and redemption? Lone heroes?

2.The visuals, the desaturated colour, the desert, the framing of the icons, the buildings, the characters? The picture of the town, houses, shops, the hotel? San Francisco and its devastation? The musical score?

3.The title, the focus on Eli, biblical name, the book as the Bible? Lost in the religious wars? The comment on religion and its contribution to destruction? The Bible and power, religious power, secular power because of people’s devotion to the Word? Eli and his book, in Braille, committing it to memory? Eli as the biblical word made flesh?

4.Denzel Washington in the central role, his screen presence? The opening, stalking the cat, the arrows? His range of weapons? The lone hero? His wandering for thirty years? His book, reading it every night? Survival, his mission, travelling to the west?

5.The encounter with the begging woman, the trap, the men revealing themselves, the swords and the guns? His watching the attack on the woman, her being raped, his not intervening because it was not his cause?

6.Arrival in the town, the town like the old west, going to the engineer and wanting his batteries recharged? The cost, the barter? The modern and the old in this town? The hotel, the bar? Carnegie as the boss, his thugs? The confrontation? His desire to have the book, to rule and to build other towns?

7.Carnegie as a character, sinister, lust for power, a survivor, his influence over the men, their brutality, the girls and prostitution? Wanting the book? The collection of books including The Da Vinci Code? His hold over Claudia, over Solara? His wanting Solara to seduce Eli and get the book?

8.Eli and Solara, an honourable man, her expectations, being treated well? Her fears for Carnegie, for her mother? His paying her, leaving town, Solara following him?

9.Carnegie and the pursuit, Claudia and her fears? The chases, the cars, the crashes, the sieges, the weaponry?

10.Eli and Solara meeting George and Martha, the symbolic American names of the president and his wife? Flesh-eaters surviving? Their huge cache of weapons? Serving tea in china crockery? The siege, their deaths?

11.The violence of the siege, the guns? Eli and his skills?

12.Carnegie, being wounded, returning to the town, his henchmen and their pursuit? Capturing Eli, getting the book, discovering it was in Braille? Claudia saying that she had forgotten Braille and could not read it?

13.San Francisco, Solara and Eli driving there, the ruins, the Golden Gate Bridge? The new leader, on Alcatraz, the irony of the prison being a free zone, the restoration of culture, safety, Eli reciting the book by heart, the leader copying it, the printing of the book, its place in the library alongside sacred texts? The film’s comment about the Bible and sacred texts as the foundation for culture?

14.Solara as the new lone warrior, going on her mission?

15.How well did the film use the post-apocalyptic genre and its conventions? Its appeal to audiences? Serving as a fable?