at no point in the movie does it imply that he is blind.
Yes it does.
- Eli does not shoot the cat until it meows.
- Eli wears dark sunglasses, as blind people often do.
- Eli does not notice the car with the skeleton until he hears the sound of rattling metal.
- Eli bumps the car door with his bag to gauge exactly where it is.
- Eli has to feel the feet to see if there are boots on the skeleton.
- Eli feels the plates on the shelf in the shack, an unusual thing if he could see.
- Eli bumps into the desk by accident before setting his bag and shotgun down on it.
- Eli touches the hung man's jacket and feels his way down the body to the boots.
- Eli has to feel the cord from the charger before tugging it out.
- He presses buttons on the mp3 player to figure out it's not working instead of just seeing the "low battery" indicator on the screen.
- He smells the hijackers on the road.
- He backs into the dark to even the playing field, then waits to be attacked first.
- He walks into just the right shop to get his mp3 player fixed. How the *beep* did he see that?
- Eli waits to be attacked first in the bar.
- When Solara's mother first walks in with food and water, it's like a blind standoff; both are waiting for the other to act.
- Eli takes interest in her blindness.
- Eli can smell her shampoo.
- Eli doesn't stop her from grabbing the food until the crinkling food wrapper tips him off she grabbed it.
- Eli tells her to close her eyes, doesn't notice/care when she doesn't.
- Eli doesn't stop in the road until he hears them cock their guns.
- Eli doesn't shoot the snipers until shot at.
- Eli has to wait and listen for the bird before he shoots. He doesn't look up at first.
- Eli says that when the war happened, "the sun came down" - the light left the world.
- Eli says, "I know what I heard. I know what I hear". No mention of what he sees.
- Eli says "We walk by faith, not by sight". He sure does.
- Eli follows that with "It's faith. It's the flower of light in the field of darkness".
- Eli bumps the bottom step with his foot before going up the porch steps of the couple's house, presumably to gauge where the steps are (credit to JeremyOgles).
- Eli didn't see the no trespassing sign. Duh.
- Eli knows the couple eats people because of the rattling tea cups.
- The camera zooms in on Eli's eyes, all glazed up, and he finishes with the line, "Let there be light. And there was light".
This is pretty simplistic stuff man.
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st6374
8 years ago
Yeah its simplistic if he were Matt Murdoch from Daredevil. You are just reading too much into the movie.
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calvinhackbarth
8 years ago
It's called subliminal messaging. You catch it on a second viewing or maybe you catch it on the first try. It's not rocket science dude.
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ralph_2ndedition
8 years ago
Was dumbfounded on first viewing, but caught all of the above - and more - on second, third and more viewings.
People who are unwilling to accept the twist at the end were either unable or unwilling to pay attention to the hundreds of hints dropped throughout.
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calvinhackbarth
8 years ago
Exactly
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Smokey_T
8 years ago
For some missing the twist involves them feeling like a jackass.
So they come on here and act like a jackass.
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Bag_of
7 years ago
Signing in.
I've watched this movie about 5 times and it has never occurred to me that Eli was blind. Liked the character, even though he was a bit of a writer cliche (man on a journey, unbeatable fighting skills, always does the right thing) Liked the twist that Solaras mother could read the bible and oldman cant. And that Eli doesnt even need the book.
I am now rewatching with the knowledge that hes blind and this film has now massively slipped down in my estimations. Whats the point of him being blind if it doesnt inconvenience him in the slightest? How is it a twist that i didnt realise hes blind when hes walking round towns, shooting people, and LOOKING at people!
Honestly i liked this film so much more when I didnt know.
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Smokey_T
7 years ago
The fact that it was a brail book made that all rather obvious, that was the twist when he opened it and went wtf, and his eyes were shown only after this precisely so you would understand the twist. It would be very, very rare to see this once and not get that he was blind (or significantly sight impaired), let alone five times. That makes you pretty unique.
Most people are legally blind, not wholly blind, there's a big difference.
His accuracy with his gun, and the fact of his mission, is what creates doubt in him, and us in him or the story.
If you subscribe to a higher power that could act as it might have in the film then it's a straight forward story. Or it could be more complex, depending on you.
It's not a tricky film. A message film. It's a satisfying actioner.
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Bag_of
7 years ago
'Unique', appreciate your good manners there!
The ending works fine without him being blind. None of the scene with solaras mother is affected, theres still the twist that she now has power over her tormenter. I never thought it was any weirder that Eli could read braille than he could dodge bullets. A slow zoom on someone reciting the bible just looks like its trying to convey gravitas. His eyes are in view most of the rest of the movie while hes looking around, the fact he looks so rough in the close up just looked like he was dying of a gunshot wound. Once id seen it once i never looked for further explanations until now.
What the blind explanation seems to be missing is any moment in the movie that it mattered that hes blind?
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Smokey_T
7 years ago
There are numerous clues to his being blind, or at the very least significantly vision impaired. They are blindingly obvious in review, when the twist is revealed.
When he stands, as if contemplating, in front of a hanged man in a closet, or beside a car with a corpse in it, what do you anticipate he is mulling over? He isn't contemplating, or pausing without meaning, he is evaluating his surroundings. He feels things, to determine the nature of them.
Bear in mind Denzel isn't blind, Eli is, neither is the director, and both did their best to portray a blind man despite their not being blind and in a way that would not alert the less astute viewer so that it contributed to the twist.
Anyway, you are entitled to your opinion, but the slow zoom was to reveal the twist, which was why it came when it did with the realisation of the villain that the bible was for the blind.
How it affected the film, and the situation, was his being very accurate with his gun, and knife, and the enemies being inaccurate with theirs. Either his cause was righteous, and 'God' guided him. Or he was lucky, skilled, and his enemies unlucky, unskilled, and didn;t take care of their equipment.
So take your pick Earthly explanation, or supernatural. The ambiguity is there, regardless.
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ralph_2ndedition
7 years ago
For me, having seen this movie four or five times now, I'd go with earthly explanation every time!
Eli might be blind (or at the very least severely visually impaired) but he is calm, collected and at peace, with heightened senses to make up for his less prominent ones.
His opponents, on the other hand, are for the most part drunk, hyped up and twitchy - not qualities that pairs well with good marksmanship.
Sure, Eli is a bit lucky aswell, but mostly he is just really good, and the others are not.
Love this movie, by the way. Twists and all!
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Smokey_T
7 years ago
There's no wrong way to read it. Just like I guess there is no 'wrong' religion, just wrong people.
The biggest factor making his chances possible is his discipline (what you are talking about), and the fact bullets are in such short demand people would be both terrible shots, and guns would be very likely to misfire or even kill the operator. Which is something they could have played with a bit more, where at pivotal times the villains gun either jams, backfires, or otherwise fails.
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whusup90201
8 years ago
instead of making your "list", it would be easier to just to show what he can do that would be impossible to do without sight . Unless of course he had "the force"......without sight there is no way that you would be a sharp-shooter with sniper like abilities. No way no how. I don't care how acute your other senses were, its just not happening. Now the sharp shooting is just one example that couldn't be done without working eyes.
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tctitans
8 years ago
It's a movie dude. Your criticism can apply to 80+% of movies. If they follow complete logic and reality, movies would be damn boring.
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calvinhackbarth
8 years ago
It had a religious backdrop making it fairly obvious the film was trying to say Eli was 'touched by God.'
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Smokey_T
8 years ago
Ahh, excuse me.
He was receiving messages from GOD.
If you had a problem with him doing impossible things for a blind man, stop at the big red sign that says "RECEIVING MESSAGES FROM GOD".
After accepting that he was on a mission from God, his hand being guided a bit, by Jehova or or whatever is part and parcel and a small pill to swallow.
Start with the RECEIVING MESSAGES FROM GOD bit, first.
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ralph_2ndedition
7 years ago
He was receiving messages from GOD.
Where does the movie ever say that?
I am seriously asking, because you seem very certain that it does - while it in fact never do.
What it does say is that Eli is guided by a voice from within. That's all.
Solara asks him about where he's going and why and how he knows which way to go and so on, and his best explanation is "I am guided by a voice from within that I can hear as clearly as I can hear you right now".
That might mean god to you, but to me that could mean any number of things, mostly spiritual, mostly NOT religious.
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Smokey_T
7 years ago
His being a Christian, and receiving messages from someone, or something, gave me the rather immutable impression that he thought he was receiving them from God. Did you think he thought it was someone or something else? Who? How? Why?
You can think he was crazy, or confused, and doubt the existence of God in this or his universe. That's your prerogative, but I am curious how you don't understand him to be a follower of Jehova, and acting in the understanding it was his God guiding him to his goal. His demurring about the identity of this 'voice' is no indication that he didn't think it was his God.
I do not make a presumption, or a leap of any great logic, when I presume he sat down to eat and prayed to Jehova, the god of his book. That is simply the most obvious reading, being that he believes in a higher power, and knows a King James Bible back to front, and by rote.
Is your understanding that he just went through the motions of prayer out of a sense of reverence for pre-calamity tradition without his having a personal faith in a deity,a nd that he was not in fact a Christian? Do you think while being a devout Christian, he entertained that someone or something other than God was guiding him?
Sure, you can concoct (because it relies on your wanting to force an Earthly explanation) a scenario where his character is guided by luck, and perhaps either forgetting his having heard of a project underway at Alcatraz to conserve human culture, or his being mentally unwell and deluded into thinking it was God that spoke to him when it was a radio signal or a whisper from some traveler at night... But these are far less likely than God dun' it.
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puschit-1
7 years ago
Of course the movie suggests he Eli is blind. The problem isn't all the hints of his condition, the problem is all the things he does a blind person wouldn't be able to do. No matter how well your other senses are trained, a blind guy simply wouldn't be able to shoot a bird in full flight.
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