The Book of Eli

Movie
German title	The Book of Eli
Original title	The Book of Eli
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	2010
length	118 minutes
Age rating	FSK 16 ; JMK 16
Rod
Director	Albert Hughes , ; Allen Hughes
script	Gary Whitta
production	Joel Silver , ; David Valdes , ; Denzel Washington , ; Andrew A. Kosove , ; Broderick Johnson
music	Atticus Ross , ; Leopold Ross , ; Claudia Sarne
camera	Don Burgess
cut	Cindy Mollo
occupation
	Denzel Washington : Eli; Gary Oldman : Carnegie; Mila Kunis : Solara; Ray Stevenson : Redridge, the enforcer; Jennifer Beals : Claudia, Solara's mother; Michael Gambon : George, Keeper of Traditions; Evan Jones : biker leader; Malcolm McDowell : Lombardi; Tom Waits : Mechanic; Frances de la Tour : Martha;
synchronization

The Book of Eli (cross-reference: The Book of Eli ) is a post-apocalyptic action film directed by Albert and Allen Hughes , starring Denzel Washington , Gary Oldman and Mila Kunis . From February 18, 2010 it was shown in German-speaking cinemas.

action

Thirty years after the "Great War", which completely devastated the earth and as a result of which a hole was torn in the ozone layer, Eli is on foot alone. He shows uncanny skills in hunting and eliminating a band of robbers who ambush him. His destination is the west of the United States, and he is carrying a mysterious book with him. As it turns out, it is a Bible of which almost all copies were destroyed after the war because they were classified as dangerous. For this very reason, the despot Carnegie, who rules a small, half-ruined desert town with a troop of thugs, absolutely wants to get a Bible into his possession. With the help of religion, Carnegie believes, people can be better controlled, which suits his expansion plans. That is why he sends his motorcycle gangs to the wasteland over and over again, who are supposed to find a copy and murder and desecrate it at random. Eli witnesses such an attack without intervening to prevent it, as he believes he must not deviate from his path.

Eli eventually arrives in Carnegie's town to run errands and then travel further west. A gang member starts an argument with him at Carnegie's bar. A fight ensues in the course of which Eli kills several of Carnegie's men with his machete. Carnegie realizes that Eli must be a special man and has him locked up overnight so that he can join him. To make him more docile, Eli receives food and water and finally Solara, the daughter of Carnegie's blind companion Claudia, who is supposed to do his bidding, is visited. Eli refuses, but lets Solara stay the night after pleading with him; she fears reprisals against her mother if she leaves. Eli offers Solara some of his food and prays with her beforehand. She becomes aware of the book, but Eli immediately hides it.

The next morning Solara prays with her mother at the breakfast table, as she learned from Eli the previous evening. Carnegie becomes aware of this and forces her to reveal what she knows. When she marks a cross with her fingers, Carnegie knows that Eli must be in possession of the book he is so desperately looking for. Together with his "executor" Redridge he wants to confront Eli. However, he finds out that he fled overnight. Carnegie's henchmen can put Eli first. Carnegie is wounded in the following exchange of fire, and again several of his men are killed. Eli, it seems, cannot harm the opposing projectiles; he can escape. Carnegie receives treatment and takes his men in four vehicles in pursuit.

Solara has secretly followed Eli and wants to accompany him on his way, but he can leave her behind by a trick. A short time later, when she is ambushed by robbers, Eli suddenly appears and kills the attackers. Now they move on together and come across a lonely house in which an old couple lives. It turns out that the two elders could only survive through cannibalism. When Eli and Solara want to leave, Carnegie and his gang appear and demand the publication of the book and Solara, which Redridge wants for herself. A skirmish ensues in which more of Carnegie's men are killed. The firepower of a Gatling Gun hidden in the back of a pickup truck is no longer an option for those entrenched in the house: the couple perish and Eli and Solara have to give up. Eli is forced to reveal the hiding place of the book as Carnegie threatens Solara with a gun. Eli is shot and left behind.

On the way back, Solara frees himself and chokes the driver, whereupon the vehicle overturns. Redridge, who is sitting in the passenger seat, is fatally injured by the machete taken from Eli. Solara loots one of the remaining vehicles and sets off to look for the wounded Eli. Carnegie does not pursue a pursuit because his vehicle only has enough fuel for the return journey to his city and he has what he wanted: the Bible.

Solara finds Eli stumbling on the street and takes him with her. Arrived on the west coast, they discover the island of Alcatraz and take a boat across. On the former prison island, a group of survivors led by the scholar Lombardi has built the nucleus of a new civilization that is looking for lost knowledge and planning to rebuild. You have already secured important literary and musical works from the past, but a Bible is still missing. Eli reveals that he has a King James Bible . Meanwhile, Carnegie arrives in the desert city and finds that the Bible is written in Braille. Only Solara's mother, the blind Claudia, would be able to decipher it, but refuses to help him and leaves him. Carnegie, increasingly suffering from the effects of his now-occurring blood poisoning , sees his power crumble as he has lost too many men to use violence to keep order. The city falls into chaos.

Meanwhile on Alcatraz it turns out that Eli had memorized the contents of the Bible that Carnegie had taken from him over many years. He begins to dictate the text to Lombardi word for word. The fact that he does not write himself but dictates, as well as a panning camera to his eyes, which are gray, suggest that Eli himself is blind or almost blind. This is also indicated by his hints that all these years he had been guided by a higher power and had been given the task of doing all this. After everything has been dictated and recorded, Eli succumbs to his gunshot wound and is buried. The people of Alcatraz begin to print the new King James Bible with an old letterpress press, a copy of which is finally placed on the bookshelf between the Torah , Tanach and Koran . Lombardi offers Solara to stay with them, but she decides to travel "home" with Eli's equipment.

synchronization

The German-language synchronization was carried out by RC Production Kunze & Wunder based on a dialogue book by Marius Clarén , who also directed the dialogue .

Leon Boden : Eli
Udo Schenk : Carnegie
Torsten Michaelis : Redridge
Maria Koschny : Solara
Stephan Rabow : Bartender
Maud Ackermann : Claudia
Ekkehardt Belle : Engineer
Otto Mellies : George
Gerald Paradise : Hoyt
Wolfgang Condrus : Lombardi
Gisela Fritsch : Martha
Dennis Schmidt-Foss : Martz
Alexandra Wilcke : Young Woman Hijacker

production

In May 2007, Columbia Pictures and the Hughes brothers signed a contract to film The Book of Eli . The film was the first of the two brothers since From Hell in 2001. The script, originally written by Gary Whitta , was rewritten by Anthony Peckham . In September 2008 Denzel Washington was confirmed as an actor for the main role, he also worked as a producer; in October, Gary Oldman was selected as an additional star. Filming began in New Mexico in February 2009 . Alcon Entertainment funded the film in co-production with Silver Pictures . Tobis Film took over the distribution in Germany .

Others

The film was the Hughes brothers' first joint project in nine years. They also co-directed From Hell (2001) and Menace II Society (1993).
The soundtrack, for which the British musician Atticus Ross was responsible, was released on February 19, 2010.
The first trailer premiered at Comic-Con 2009, on July 23, 2009 on the Internet and before the cinema version of the film Orphan - The Orphan .
After Carnegie's capture, a poster for the post-apocalyptic science fiction film The Boy and His Dog can be seen above the bed in Eli's room .
A complete Braille Bible is actually much larger (more than 10 volumes) than the book shown in the film. The reason for this is the larger minimum size of Braille in order to be legible by touch, as well as the need for thicker paper to print the font.
The names of the old couple (Martha and George) are the main characters in Edward Albee's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? modeled on.
During the film, Redridge whistles the pan flute melody from the film Once Upon a Time in America .

Reviews

"Conclusion: The Book of Eli is a hard-nosed end-time vision in the best 'Mad Max' manner, the spiritual superstructure of which is softened by the uncompromising staging."

- Cinema

“Unsuccessful attempt to reconcile 'Mad Max' cinema and solidarity with the Bible. Only the work of the cameraman occasionally gives the humorless end-time drama a bit of fascination. "

- Lexicon of international film

“There are a few good reasons to check out The Book of Eli. The lovingly composed action sequences, for example, the sovereign Denzel Washington as always, or the extremely amusing episode with the old couple. Those who still like surprising final turns à la M. Night Shyamalan could also get their money's worth. It's just a shame that the film takes itself so seriously most of the time. It should be about the power of faith, about human instincts, about hope in nightmarish times - but within such a wild mix of genres there is no time to go into anything. The ideas remain vague and half-baked, which wouldn't be so bad if they weren't always presented so fatefully. 'The Book of Eli' definitely wants to be exciting and entertaining, but also important, at least a little. "

- Spiegel Online

" The Book of Eli is a flat, pubescent and fundamentalist cinematic Bible study, which - so that people are even addressed by it - is equipped with a lot of well-known Western violence and brutal action battles."

- Germany radio

Awards

Saturn Awards 2010

Nomination in the category of best science fiction film
Nomination for Best Actor for Denzel Washington
Nomination in the Best Make-Up category for Gregory Nicotero and Howard Berger

Teen Choice Award 2010