Faux Christianity: The Book of Eli

Jenn and I finally watched The Book of Eli on Friday evening.  I wanted to see it last February when it came out, but dangit, movies are just too friggin' expensive.  Seeing as how so few movies I've seen in the theater have lived up to my expectations, it didn't seem reasonable to shell out a wad of cash.  Thankfully, Redbox is ridiculously cheap :^)


Here's what Focus on the Family's media review site, Plugged In, had to say about this film:

"The Book of Eli is, perhaps, the most explicitly Christian film I've seen come out of the secular film industry since The Passion of the Christ. Indeed, it's something of a Sunday sermon wrapped in a Mad Max adventure."

Note those words: explicitly Christian.  Let's start by analyzing the movie.

Our initial impressions were mild befuddlement and uncertainty.  The setting was spectacular, the actors top-notch (c'mon, Denzel Washington AND Gary Oldman??  Too good to be true), and the story originally sounded intriguing.  A lone man walking across a post-apocalyptic wasteland, carrying the last copy of the Bible to a place where it would be "safe" definitely sounds like a great story, at face-value.

Throughout this film, it becomes apparent the directors had a message they desired to share with the audience.  Eli isn't a mindless, witless thug who mercilessly slaughters his way through a jungle of flesh.  Rather he's a thoughtful, unassuming individual with a clear reverence and passion for the Book he's carrying.  We see him reading it regularly (every day for the past 30-odd years, he claims) and refraining from the debauched lifestyle shared by other survivors in this cruel world.  His actions save a young woman from being brutalized, and he eventually carries the Book (I won't explain how) to a place where it can be printed and distributed once again.  We hear him quote, albeit selectively, Scriptures with people around him, and he clearly believes "God" has placed him on this mission.  Eli is a man of conviction, and nothing, no matter how impossible or dire, would sway him from his destination.

But is this an overtly Christian film??  Absolutely not.  Eli never shares with those around him a greater message of redemption and forgiveness on the basis of Christ's righteous life, death, and glorious resurrection.  Though a few glimpses of crucifixes may have been apparent in passing (I don't remember them, but I read that they were), the message of our fall into sin (which, ironically, would help to explain why such a devastating war, and the resulting barbaric existence, could happen), and the impotence of our own actions to achieve righteousness is conspicuously absent.  Instead, we see a man doggedly determined to fulfill a task given to him by a voice in the darkness.  Eli, we're told, walks by faith, not by sight.  Unfortunately, that faith, it seems, is not placed upon the meritorious work of Christ, but rather upon the realization of his efforts to restore God's Word to the rest of the world.  At the end, we see him peacefully 

At one point, Eli tells his traveling companion what he learned from 30-odd years of reading this Book: "do more for others than you do for yourself...at least, that's what I got out of it."  Ironically, the context of this statement is completely lost on the movie.  When Christ spoke the "Golden Rule" (Matthew 7:12), He was unveiling the full nature of God's Law in all of its sternness and condemnation.  A few paragraphs prior to this, we read this terrifying statement, "You must therefore be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48).  We have a word for this in Reformed, and Lutheran, circles: it's called "Law," and the result is utter and complete condemnation.  Indeed, a few verses later, we read "For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." (vs 14)  Jesus is not expounding on how great it is to be nice to each other, instead He's calling condemnation down upon everyone who, at any point in time, fails to fulfill the Law in thought, word, deed, and heart.  And, the reality of this is that we all are under this condemnation.  We are under a holy curse by a righteous God Whom we have offended.  In Adam and like Adam, we have violated His covenant, and are now utterly dead in our sin.


But Scripture doesn't stop there.  From the 3rd chapter of Genesis, through the final statement in Revelation, we read of redemption and salvation.  We read of forgiveness which exists apart from our own works or failed attempts at righteousness.  We are told of a God Who, though utterly justified in His condemnation of a sinful and rebellious creation, called down His judgment upon Himself, through the death and resurrection of His Son.  That is the Christian message: it is the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life which comes only through faith upon Christ Jesus, the Son of God, based on the historical reality of the Incarnation of His Son.  We call this "Gospel", and without it, we are utterly and totally lost.  Christ rose from the dead, historically and in reality, and we can believe everything He said regarding Himself, His Word, His Father, and His Spirit -- this is the Gospel in its wondrous glory and hope.


The Book of Eli offers hope of a sort: it is an ecumenical, all-encompassing focus on having "faith" and executing it in the right way.  Eli doesn't terrorize those who are not in his way.  When confronted by cannibals (an outstanding scene), rather than shooting his way out, he and his companion try to leave peacefully.  He refrains from taking advantage of the "innocent."  He tries very hard to "do more for others than he does for himself," but it's not enough.  He leaves a woman to be brutalized by a gang of marauders; he leaves a young woman imprisoned in a water spring, willing to let her face the consequences of being caught by the rest of the town.  He leaves a severe power vacuum in a terrorized town by bringing about the downfall of the main antagonist.  According to the Book he reads, these are enough to condemn him.