MovieBob said:
Not that it should matter, but I'm not an Atheist
My issue with the use of religion in this movie is that it's heavy-handed yet also profoundly silly. Christianity in "Eli" is used like magic spells are in "Harry Potter": Eli teaches a person who's NEVER even heard of religion before to say grace, and immediately they're a better, more confident human being than before. The bad guy wants The Book for the same reason: "The Words" will give him power (and the movie agrees with him.) Aside from being a flat-out distortion of the religion in question, that's just GOOFY - especially in a movie trying so hard to be gritty and "real."... etc
That just makes your review worse, sir.
Because to me, it makes it sound like there WAS a pretty cool twist to things... first off the final revelation you reveal just makes EVERYTHING that happened before the END of the film THAT MUCH COOLER when you realize what you realize...
Second, one of the oldest and truest plots in human fiction is the story of a person who undergoes tremendous trial and tribulation to accomplish THE IMPOSSIBLE.. how many times have we seen that? From the Hobbit's quest to travel into the very HEART of doom to save middle earth, to a ragtag band of mini-bears fighting a decisive battle against the greatest military force in a far, far away galaxy, the idea of someone overcoming all odds to win against all hope is as old and satisfying as storytelling itself.
As for the "power of Prayer", I also view differently on your opinion of such moments. I mean, how many times have we seen THAT put to good use in a good story? I seem to recall a wise, odd little Japanese man taking a 105 lb weakling and turning him into a Karate Champion by painting fences and buffing cars in order to help him learn to believe in HIMSELF being a VERY good and entertaining film. I also recall the story of a burned out, washed up young boxer breaking legs in Philly being given an opportunity to step into a ring with the greatest fighter in the world when no one else believed he'd last five minutes, and winning his own personal battle of will and determination. I think the point that was being made there best illustrated why Gary Oldman's character wanted the book so badly... believe it or not (pun not intended), WORDS ARE POWERFUL.. and not in the Harry potter spells way, but in a REAL and POWERFUL way. Words can cause wars, can make peace, can console, and can inflame.
Want a good example? You're already looking at it: This thread.
Your "words" about a film have inspired all these emotions and thoughts, ranging from agreement, to anger, to defensiveness, to insult, to disappointment. There are people now who question why they even bothered entertaining your opinion, and there are those who don't understand why others would be upset about any of this. Words have strength, they have power and can move great amounts of people to do things when nothing else could.
A few years ago, NOBODY would have ever believed we would have a black President of the United States in this day and age. And yet, with a single WORD, he inspired a nation and CHANGED (see what I did there?) the WORLD. Words can give people strength to endure the worst torments... there are plenty of stories of prisoners during wars, held for years by brutal imprisoners who survived on faith alone. There are people whose lives were forever scarred by injury or deformation who again, turned to faith for strength and inspiration. Even that old saying "There are no Athiests in a Fox hole" rings true, because you'd be surprised how quickly someone can develop faith if they need to.
As to the "power of prayer" making someone a better person, I don't see how that is unbelievable. While I don't necessarily want to see people going around preaching at me all day long, I can see how Words from the Bible could be used to comfort. I can also see how regardless of one's views on the existence of God or not, the wisdom that can be found in the Bible contain a certain universal truth. The best example I always recall, as a fellow movie buff, is the scene from Enemy Mine, when Dennis Quaid's character,Davidge, is reading from the Drac Holy book (the Talman) and in doing so reflects on how he's heard such words before somewhere (he was reading a passage that said something similar to "DO unto others as you would have done to yourself) and Jerib tells him that "Of course you have, TRUTH is TRUTH".
I would think that in a post-apocalyptic world, which is probably a pretty hopeless and taxing existence, giving someone even just a little something to believe in even the smallest bit of HOPE, is probably more valuable than all the cans of kippers in the world.
