The Book of Eli

The Book of Eli (2010)

6 corrections since 21 Aug '18, 00:00

(10 votes)

Corrected entry: In the scene where Solara is being taken back by the bad guys, one of them take out Eli's machete and places it on the dashboard. After the car flips over, she manages to get the machete (because it couldn't have stayed on the dashboard) and stab the bad guy in a matter of seconds. If the car flips, that machete could have gone anywhere.

Correction: She did not stab him. He was stabbed in the accident. It is possible that the hilt of the weapon turned to press against the windshield and at some point in the flip (perhaps the landing) he was thrown forward into it.

This is where the separation from art and reality occurs. Some of us know that a black cloud hangs over our heads and this is the sort of thing that would happen to us. While others in the same situation, the machete would miss them and a winning Powerball ticket would fall in your hand.

Correction: Yes, it could have. Lucky for Solara, "anywhere" includes "within arm's reach". Which is where it wound up.

Phixius

Continuity mistake: When Eli has the confrontation with the gang in the beginning he cuts the leader's hand off with his sword. When you see the sword in the very next shot, the blood is only on the edge of the sword and not smeared across it as it should be.

dbfilms

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Suggested correction: If the cutting took ages, there would be enough blood to cover the blade. The action was over very quickly though so no reason to expect there to be a lot of blood.

Corrected entry: The first scene of the movie shows leaves falling from dead trees like it's snowing. If it was 30 years later, the leaves would have all long since fallen off. An argument could be made that the leaves are instead ashes falling. But the trees would not be smoldering after 30 years. Also, when Eli stands up, it's obvious that they are leaves are falling off him.

Correction: I didn't see any leaves falling off Eli when he stood up. No, trees would not have been smoldering for 30 years, but who says the fire burned 30 years ago? Forest fires happen all the time from natural causes. In a world this dry they'd be even more frequent.

Phixius

In addition to this, who's to say that there wasn't a recent fire in the area or that they were showing Eli at a time immediately following the Apocalypse. This would be a clear indicator of the length of his journey to the West. One could only imagine that it had begun in the East fun in the East.

Eli tells Solara that the event happened 30 years ago, that he also has been walking for 30 years with the bible. So yes, leaves falling off trees doesn't make sense and ash doesn't make sense either as he has not aged in other scenes after.

Correction: It is nuclear fallout, an unknown time after the nuclear explosion(s). At the time, he is wearing a mask to protect himself from it.

Plot hole: In one of the last scenes when the scribe is putting the newly published bible on the shelf you can see next to it a big green book with the word Tanach written on it. That is actually a translated bible with the Hebrew and English, including the five books of Moses and psalms plus much more. He had the Bible the whole time. (01:47:50)

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Suggested correction: From the internet movie database... The Hebrew Bible, or The Bible or "the Chumash" in Hebrew, is already in the library. The Christian "Old Testament" is the Chumash with some variations (reorder of books and reorder of the 10 commandments, depending on religious denomination). The New King James Version is an Old Testament with the Christian Gospels added at the end, some of which the main character, Eli, quotes. These two books would be considered separate and unique in a library.

Corrected entry: SPOILER: There are many many clues as to Eli's character being blind throughout the entire movie; he bumps into a table, he felt around for the boots on the body, he heard the rat, he said "you have to come to me", when the woman said he'd have to say something or come to her, he scratches his shirt (and finds out she too is blind), he says he travels by faith not by sight, he counts the clicks on the iPod to get to a song, he fiddles with the iPod because he cannot see the battery is low, he asks the shopkeeper if he has his trigger off of the gun, he's always listening to birds/people, he doesn't shoot until he's shot at, he says he can smell people (the ambush), he says he "didn't see the (no trespassing) sign" at the old folks house, he heard the china rattling so he knew that they eat humans, etc.

Correction: The reference to walk by faith and not by sight was not because of his blindness, he was simply quoting scripture (2 Corinthians 5:7). It does make it a little humorous and ironic that he says it though.

The scripture is both ironic and true. Eli says in the movie "I am not a Liar" and he always phrases things so he doesn't say anything that would be misunderstood.

Correction: Good points! Also he told his companion to be quiet so he can hear the vulture in order to shoot it with an arrow.

He asked the shopkeeper to take his finger off the trigger assuming it was. Another good example is that he ran his hand over the lighter to make sure it had a flame. He also didn't have an immediate (visual) response to the hanging man.

Corrected entry: When Eli is done bargaining with the engineer, the engineer tells Eli he needs a couple of hours to charge the "Fathom 900," yet it's still connected and apparently still charging, from what the engineer is saying, when Eli goes to get it the next day. (00:23:40 - 00:49:00)

wpcuevas

Correction: The engineer was working for the antagonist. Eli shows this by telling the engineer to tell "him" that he made him do it.

I don't know that the engineer was working directly for the antagonist. It may be that the antagonist held such power over the people in the town that they all feared him, to include the antagonist.

Correction: Also... he told Eli that he "could put a trickle charger on it." trickle charging is less than 1 amp and takes up to 48 hours to charge a flat battery.

Factual error: Eli uses an apparently moist KFC wetnap to clean himself in an early scene, yet it's been at least 30 years since the apocalyptic event happened. Unopened wipes only stay moist for months, even big packets of baby wipes only stay wet for 2-3 years.

zendaddy621

More mistakes in The Book of Eli

Eli: Stay on the path. It's not your concern. Stay on the path. It's not your concern.

More quotes from The Book of Eli

Trivia: When Eli and Solara are in his room for the night there is a movie poster on the wall behind them for a similar post apocalyptic movie. "A Boy and His Dog". In Eli the survivors protect themselves from the sun's rays and in "A Boy and His Dog" they flee underground to hide from the sun.

drw60a

More trivia for The Book of Eli

Question: If he is blind how do you explain the accurate shots with the arrow?

Answer: A large study was done after the atomic blasts in Japan in WW2 after the surrender on the effects to victims' eyesight. Over 70% of the people that indirectly looked at the light were not completely blind. They suffered from cataracts, and out of those studied over 50% could see during the day - mostly shades of black and shadows / silhouettes of people and objects. Those that survived became very keen to see movement as long as they were in bright light, also heightened since of smell and feeling vibrations. This would explain why Eli never traveled at night and was not totally blinded by a nuclear flash, if he was completely blind - night would give him a much larger advantage. You notice he always travels when the sun comes up so he can see silhouettes of people and objects moving. Also when Solara interred his room at Carnegie's hall she said "it's bright in here" Eli had all the lights on so he could see anyone entering the room / cell. Also he wears sunglasses because obviously he does not want his cataracts to get worse. If you watch the movie again there are many tells to support that he is only partially blind and had mild to moderate cataracts. You can also see his eyes on the boat to Alcatraz, showing his cataracts.

He was born blind, at the start he smells the hijackers and moves into the dark to level the playing field.

How would he know where the dark is?

He was not born blind. He was blinded during armageddon, but after finding the Bible was given his sight back in order to complete the task given to him by God. Once his task was completed he once again lost his sight.

Nope! He was given his sight back by God in order to complete the task he was given, only to lose it once again after it was completed.

Answer: Believe he is partially blind. You don't need to be completely blind to need to learn braille.

He is not blind. He sees cars coming runs into the house and immediately checks the windows.

Answer: He was blind before the flash. That's how he could read braille, and had a braille bible. Remember, he asked Solaris' mother when she lost her sight - she said before the flash. That's why she also could read braille. He was totally blind. God gave him the ability to do what he did.

Answer: I think everyone missed something that is completely obvious. He is absolutely 100% blind. He always reacts. He never starts at first. During the gunfight he never once fired upon someone unless he was shot at first. During the bridge fight, he did not attack anyone until they screamed or were close enough to where he was feeling them. When he found the body hanging in the closet and he felt it with his hands from head to foot and felt the boots. Same thing with the car with the skeleton. He felt all the way down and realised it did not have boots. Every fight scene and everything he did in this movie was a reaction to somebody else doing something first.

Answer: He is 100% blind and if you pay close attention to the movie, it is proven and shown. He only reacts to his senses, the scene where the man is hanging, Eli smells him; he does not see him. The scene with the hijackers, he goes under the bridge, soo he can hear their movement using echolocation. The shootout scene if you listen very closely when Carnegie is speaking to him, Eli clicks his tongue using echolocation again. The scene with the couple as he is walking up to their home, he makes the clicking noises again and bangs of the door with the gun to listen to the sound. In the shootout scene, Eli only shoots at those who were firing at him; which was in the direction of the gunshot sounds. The scene where he gives up the book and is shot, he stands up and looks around with confusion because he does not know who else is there, and he blindly swings his knife around to try to fight back. He was able to do what he did due to God's protection and guidance.Hence "Walk by Faith not by Sight".

Answer: It's clear from examining his eyes in various shots throughout the film that he is not blind for most of it. He was almost certainly blind before his journey began, then is sight was restored so he could complete the task. There are several scenes where his eyes can be seen. They are brown and when he talks to people, he looks them in the eye. At the end of the film, his eyes go gray, showing he is blind again.

Um...no...sorry good theory, but he just has heightened senses, and I believe isn't 100% blind but is mostly like 80-90%.

If you disagree, then please present evidence to refute my theory, rather than simply stating an opinion. Do you disagree that his eyes are brown throughout the film, then go gray at the end? Do you disagree that he looks people directly in the eye? Do you disagree that he is able to aim and shoot at distances a blind person wouldn't be able to?

The idea is that he was blind to begin with. The fact they didn't show his eyes grey is that it would reveal that fact and make the movie look stupid. The way they approach it is the surprise at the end that it turns out he is blind, not that he had gone blind again. If wasn't blind during the movie there would have been no point in showing him blind at the end, nor would it be logical he has a braille bible that he knows by heart.

lionhead

We'll just have to disagree. My take was that he was blind previously (hence his ability to read braille and his use of his other senses) but was given sight to complete his task, then lost his sight just before death.

Answer: He can hear their wings flapping, and he is guided from above. His other senses are extraordinarily sensitive and honed.

More questions & answers from The Book of Eli

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