The Book of Eli

 The camera guides the viewer through a barely standing forest, with the sun illuminating smoky air. Torched by an intense fire, all that remains are black trees, which constantly shed what appears to be either ashes or leaves. The only life forms present are starving and ravaged. This post-apocalyptic world is where we find Eli (Denzel Washington), one of the few survivors of a long forgotten world who, with machete in hand, is prepared for anything and ready to do anything to protect himself and his cargo from the horrors of this torn and twisted world.

As we follow Eli through a desert-like terrain spattered with missile craters and half destroyed cars and demolished roads, it almost seems as if he is traversing through the ruins of a large city, if not a massive junkyard. You can’t help but realize a sense of lost hope as you watch Eli wander across this dead planet and encounter corpses of the unfortunate.

The movie soon moves to violence as Eli is ambushed by a group of rogue “outlanders,” desperate to survive in this cruel world. It becomes apparent that Eli is not the man to mess with when he takes on the entire clan and kills them with ease. Eli proves not to hesitate to do what he must to make his way west, where, for some reason, he believes there is something for him and his book–his very motive for survival.

Having run out of subsidence, Eli’s search for water brings him to an outpost in the middle of nothing which is run by Carnegie (Gary Oldman), who is eager to expand his territories through manipulating the hopeless minds of the post-apocalyptic peoples through inspiration brought from a special book–a book only Eli has possession of.

From here, the conflict escalates as Carnegie tries to get Eli’s precious book and Eli refuses all advances. When a local girl, Solara (Mila Kunis), attaches herself to Eli he reluctantly has to look out for her, too.

The directors, twins Allen and Albert Hughes work brilliantly together to give the film more of an eerie feel. Eli is captivating as a distrusting religious man, mellowed down from years of solitude. Carnegie is the perfect villain for this movie, both engaging and viscous; he is limitless on what he’ll do to get what he wants. Solara is the sweetheart with good intentions but at first only causes Eli grief.

If this movie teaches us anything, it teaches us the true power of ignorance, as well as the power of hope. This movie shows us the consequences of our mistakes before we make them, and perhaps we can learn from our mistakes before they happen.