WHEN A BOOK IS MORE THAN JUST A BOOK
Occasion: One fine evening and just finished
watching an online movie streaming originally released in 2010 starring Academy Award winners,
Denzel Washington as Eli the protagonist and Sir Gary Oldman as Carnegie the
antagonist or simply the bad guy.
This movie is a co- production by Mr. Denzel
Washington which in short, is about Eli the Believer (Denzel) a character sets during a Post-Apocalyptic era in the Western world of America as we know it
today, on his journey to the West side which later revealed as San Francisco, based on a voice he’s been listening to in his head after a year from
the nuclear war to find the Book under a rubble and heads to the West to help
saves the mankind. Decades after the war, the world is no longer having much books
pretty much everywhere and people are becoming less literate and educated. The Book he was carrying is the last copy of
its kind.
The movie never even mentioned or hinted that the book he was carrying was the last copy of the King James version of the Holy Bible until the third act of the movie. I am amazed with how the story carries itself based on how Eli and Carnegie fought to death just over a book of faith when the whole mankind only cares about lust and survival. Carnegie believes if he has the Book, he can gain the trust and faith of his followers and just anyone else towards a new civilisation and that to him means even more than anything else in this world.
 |
| Sir Gary Oldman as Carnegie in a scene from The Book of Eli reading Mussolini. Photo courtesy of http://coolspotters.com. |
The movie never even mentioned or hinted that the book he was carrying was the last copy of the King James version of the Holy Bible until the third act of the movie. I am amazed with how the story carries itself based on how Eli and Carnegie fought to death just over a book of faith when the whole mankind only cares about lust and survival. Carnegie believes if he has the Book, he can gain the trust and faith of his followers and just anyone else towards a new civilisation and that to him means even more than anything else in this world.
My afterthought is that what if such war really happens and mankind survived through
the Post-Apocalyptic after half a century and no one really remembers or
memorises all the books and scriptures as it should be. In the movie, Eli has been reading
the Book for nearly 30 years every single day and because of this consistency, he memorised all of them by heart, with the help of a voice he’s been listening to in his head along in his journey to save mankind. Much like how Joan of Arc's religious experience during the Hundred Years' War when she led the French to triumph against the English with her Sword of St Catherin which she found behind the altar at the Church of St Catherine (https://www.jeanne-darc.info/biography/sword/) but in this movie, it is set with a fictional futuristic setting.
Eli no longer has the Book during the final battle when it fell into Carnegie hands but due to his perfect memorisation of the Book, the press editor whom he met in the third act of the movie, wrote down every single word he said with wet ink and on papers without questioning him on how he remembers all the verses perfectly and to base on faith alone. As the movie ends, the book was completed and finally printed as a complete edition of King James version of the Holy Bible.
Eli no longer has the Book during the final battle when it fell into Carnegie hands but due to his perfect memorisation of the Book, the press editor whom he met in the third act of the movie, wrote down every single word he said with wet ink and on papers without questioning him on how he remembers all the verses perfectly and to base on faith alone. As the movie ends, the book was completed and finally printed as a complete edition of King James version of the Holy Bible.
From my personal point of view, the movie, besides being another fictional futuristic story between good and bad, has made me realised much
more on how significant a book could mean not just for formal education but for mankind survival especially when the book is indeed the book of
faith.
I will just conclude with sharing a piece from the Islamic Book of Faith, the Holy Qur'an, the first word ever to be revealed to the Messenger which was Iqra’, an Arabic which word that simply means ‘Read!’. So today let's just put our smartphones down and pick up a book and read something because you might save or change mankind one day from reading this one book that you picked.
I will just conclude with sharing a piece from the Islamic Book of Faith, the Holy Qur'an, the first word ever to be revealed to the Messenger which was Iqra’, an Arabic which word that simply means ‘Read!’. So today let's just put our smartphones down and pick up a book and read something because you might save or change mankind one day from reading this one book that you picked.
Comments
Post a Comment