Wednesday Wonder
And so The Book of Eli unfolds like many post-apocalypse epics do; the solitary survivors wander through the wasteland of what’s left after the conflagration. What is missing are not only basic resources – which are bartered and hoarded to an alarming level – but social order, law, and any semblance of civility. It’s the Wild West all over again.
But it isn’t the exercise of brute force, ethic of might-makes-right or survival of the fittest that surprises us. That we have found many other times in films of the same genre. What surprises us is the reason our hero (played admirably by Denzel Washington) is on a mission. When others are simply scraping after survival he is doing that and more. His purpose is to head West and to go to a place where the book he is safeguarding will find the right home.
By this time you’ve either already seen the movie, or are never going to see it anyway. So I absolve myself of ruining it for you by sharing too much!
Interestingly, the book he is transporting is the Bible, and the Bible was one of the fatalities of the cataclysm. He’s carrying the last one and he’s carrying it to a place where it will be protected, printed and re-entered into the thought and wisdom of the world. In the earthen vessel of his life he carries this treasure.
What I won’t do is divulge the twist on how this happens at the end, but what I will observe is this: Isn’t it interesting that a culture like ours that, except in a few quarters, either ignores or diminishes the truth claims or narratives of the Bible for a variety of reasons would design an entire plot around saving them from extinction? In fact, the hero is willing to sacrifice himself to that end.
Somewhere in the middle of the movie our hero recites a portion of the 23rd Psalm, a piece of sacred poetry that brings the listener to wonder and awe. And it is at that point that the film drives home the possibility of a world, of a life devoid of such riches. Those who have never heard are stunned by the sheer spiritual beauty.
And I suppose that was the take home for me. There is the sense that, like hope, the sacred truth of God springs eternal. Against all odds there is provision for the truth to spring up amidst the most brutish and base determinism. In the end, the treasure is found buried in a field. That says something about our most basic faith and hope, that when all is wounded the Grail is somewhere preserved and waiting to be found.
That’s worth more than the price of the popcorn.
