The Book of Eli is a 2010 American post-apocalyptic neo-Western and action film directed by the Hughes brothers, written by Gary Whitta, and starring Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis, Ray Stevenson, and Jennifer Beals.
The story revolves around Eli, a nomad in a post-apocalyptic world, who is told by a voice to deliver his copy of a mysterious book to a safe location on the West Coast of the United States. The history of the post-war world is explained along the way, as is the importance of Eli's task.
After "the flash" of the cataclysm that rocked the Earth, many blamed the troubles on religion. All the books were burned, making the few that remain precious cargo indeed.
The landscape (shot in New Mexico) is much like an old Western: bandits (albeit cannibalising bandits) lurk the desert roads, while rough crowds take refuge in hardscrabble towns. At the downtown saloon, water, not whiskey, is "the good stuff.”
Across this charred land strides our Christian cowboy, Eli (Denzel Washington), a mysterious, solitary man who carries the last remaining Bible in his backpack. He also carries a gleaming silver knife and a shotgun, both of which he's expert with.
Most everyone wears goggles and leather in the post-apocalyptic wasteland of The Book of Eli, so it’s been inspirational for costume design for my character. Also, the protagonist, Eli, carries a machete which I may incorporate into my own character. It's also easy to see the imprint of Cormac McCarthy's far more deeply felt The Road on The Book of Eli.
Most everyone wears goggles and leather in the post-apocalyptic wasteland of The Book of Eli, so it’s been inspirational for costume design for my character. Also, the protagonist, Eli, carries a machete which I may incorporate into my own character. It's also easy to see the imprint of Cormac McCarthy's far more deeply felt The Road on The Book of Eli.
