The Book of Eli

SPOILER ALERT: If you have not seen the movie and wish to, please do not read this post. I will be discussing parts of the movie and even giving away the ending. This is a discussion about following God or following the bible or both, and examples through the movie will be given. DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW HOW THE MOVIE ENDS OR ANY OTHER INFO.

Hubby and I had a great time on our anniversary. We dropped the kids off at my in laws and went to a movie. We also went to lunch, but the movie was really good. We thought, and hoped, that we were the only ones in the theater. Don't you know that just as the movie started, another couple came in. Spoilers. Speaking of spoilers, I hope you read the first paragraph. This is your last chance to turn around. This is the point of no return.

We saw The Book of Eli. We had seen the advertisements and I had even gone to the website listed on the commercial. Don't do that. It's just a big waste of time. I was hoping for some background or even just a snippet of info I could use to possibly tell me more about the movie. Nope. All it told me was that the character of Eli, played by Denel Washington, had to take a book to a safe place. That book held all the power to restore Earth after it had been devastated by war. I got that from the ads. What I found out was that that book was the bible.

Eli had a bible, but not just any bible. He had the only bible left after they had all been destroyed. After the war, the few that survived decided that God had forsaken them and all bibles needed to be destroyed. They burned them all, except one that was hidden under rubble. The one that Eli was lead to by God. God had spoken to Eli and had given him a task. He was to take the last bible known to man and take it from the east coast, where he was, to the west coast. The trip took him 30 years. Along the way he did many things that weren't right according to the bible, but he was protected and guided by God.

Shortly after the movie begins, Eli comes across a woman who looks to be in trouble. A shopping cart she is pushing has lost a wheel and all of her food, a very scarce commodity, has spilled onto the empty, half destoyed road. Eli tells her partners in crime to come out and show themselves. They are robbers and murderers and would just as soon kill you as have anything else to do with you. After their leader lays his hand on Eli one too many times, Eli says "Touch me again and you won't have a hand." What does the bad guy do? He touches him again. Bad guys are so stupid. That would have been my clue to run, but they're bad guys and they don't know any better. Sure enough, he loses his hand. He yells for his crew to kill Eli, but they all end up dead because he's that good. The guy with the chain saw for a weapon was extremely good, but alas, he, too, loses his head in the end. Eewww! When Eli kills the leader, he seems to cradle him while he runs a knife very slowly into him. It was almost as if he regretted what he was doing, but knew it had to be done. He was comforting the man even as he killed him.

Moving on, Eli comes to a town. He goes into a little shop to have a battery charged. He uses it to charge his iPod of all things. Anyway, he finds himself drawn across the street to a bar. My mother used to say nothing good came out of hanging around in bars, and here is yet another example of that. He just wants his water bottle filled and ends up killing about a dozen men. Really? You pick on Eli, you could end up dead. I won't be picking on him any time soon. In the end, the big boss man of the town, Gary Oldman, sees Eli and "offers" him a place tolive and stay in exchange for his excellent fighting skills. Eli found himself locked in a room, and asked to think about it over night. He was even given the man's "stepdaughter" as a companion for the night. Eli didn't partake, but allowed her to spend the night and offered to share his meal with her. Before they ate, he prayed, giving thanks to God for all of his blessings.

During their discussions that evening, the girl found Eli's book. He didn't have a chance to put it away before she had come into the room. It seems that the new generation, the generation after the war, didn't know how to read. She only knew it was a book and asked Eli to read it to her. He refused. Long story short, he manages to escape from his locked room and the bad guy (BG) is after him. Eli manages to escape from the town with out taking a bullet, but he does manage to kill most of the men after him. The step daughter (SD) follows. It is safer for her to be with Eli than back home. A chase ensues.

There is lots of killing, lots of violence and at one point Eli is shot and SD is taken away. She returns, after using some Eli tricks to escape, to find Eli gone. She finds him walking, bleeding and disoriented, trying to finish his mission. He has given the book to the BG who wants it to control the world. If the people who know nothing about God or His love for us can be tricked into believing he is God, then he would hold all the power over the world. The book is locked and the lock must be picked to be opened. Once it is open, he realizes that the book that was going to give him all the power, is a braille bible. He calls in his "wife", who is blind, and tells her to read it. She refuses and says she doesn't remember how. All of the power he wanted, his lust to control the world, is for nothing.

SD gets Eli to his destination, still bleeding and impossibly close to death. Their destination is Alcatraz. It has been set up with a printing press and the people there are reprinting as many books as they can, teaching people to read and giving them their power back. The one book they need is the bible. Eli has the head of this group sit down with pen and paper and he begins to recite the King James Version, word for word, verse for verse. As he does this, he goes into a trance and talks until the bible is complete. At this point, he looks at his companion and dies. While he is reciting the bible, you realize one thing, probably one of the most important things about the movie. He's blind.

There are subtle clues all through the movie, but if you aren't aware of them, if you don't know ahead of time, you don't pick up on them. I picked up on one and dismissed it almost immediately. Couldn't be, I thought. Throughout the movie, every night for the 30 years of Eli's journey, he read the bible. One reason no one bothered with it was that it was in braille. This movie led to a fantastic discussion about God and paths and all kinds of things while we had lunch.

So much violence, so much killing taking place. But, the only way for Eli to accomplish the task that he has been given, is to be protected by God. So do we live by the word of God or the words in the bible? Aren't the words in the bible the words of God? Here's what hubby and I came up in relation to the movie. Maybe it can be related to life.

God sent Eli on that journey. Because God sent him, Eli was under the mighty hand of God, protected, guided, and loved. Isn't the bible full of stories of following God's way, following His direction, with stumbles along the way? It started in the very beginning with Adam and Eve. They were given one task, and asked to not do one thing. Moses never stepped foot in the promised land. David, annointed by God to the throne, was just as big a sinner, if not bigger, than them all. Eli had trouble with the things that he had done on his journey. He knew that killing was not right, but he needed to live to complete the task. He was protected and guided on his journey. He was shot at point blank range in the stomach and still managed to draw himself up and continue to walk to his journey's end. During parts of the movie, he was shot at and never hit. He was able to recite the bible from memory to add it to the collection. He was able to see, after many years of not having a companion, of not having any one else to depend on, that he needed to be more like the words of the book he was protecting. He needed to think about other's needs. He needed to put the will of God, first and foremost, in front of all things. Even while killing a man, he was able to pray for him. He never picked a fight, but didn't shy away from one. He completed the task set out for him by God. Above all, he followed God.

What does that say about our lives? What does that say about my life? Am I following the words? Or am I listening for God? Can I do both? Is it possible? If you find yourself in a situation, what would you do? Follow the word of God, or the book that has the words of God in them? Is the bible more like guidelines? The conflict is enough to send you over the edge, I think. Here's what I think.

I think that the bible gives us rules to live our every day by. Be kind and considerate of others, but put God first and foremost in your life. With Him by your side in all things, there can be no failure. But, always listen for the words that He has for you. He will never lead you where you don't belong. He may send you on a daunting task, but lean on Him for guidance and wisdom.

That's all I've got for now. I think that's plenty. I've been long winded, but hopefully I have given you something to think about. May God always guide your life with wisdom and love and grace.