October 2010

The Book of Eli

The whole basic premise of The Book of Eli intrigued me. I had seen and heard just enough about this movie to spur my curiosity but not enough to go to the theater and plunk down twenty bucks (it truly is all about the popcorn!). Let’s begin.

The Book of Eli is a reasonably violent post-apocalyptic tale. Loner Eli (an appropriately taciturn and always dignified Denzel Washington) has been on a thirty year journey across a devastated America, armed with a nasty looking sword, a gun and a mysterious book, and an almost otherworldly ability to kick people’s butts. The world has been thrown back into the Dark Ages after a barely discussed war “tore a hole in the sky” with Eli one of a select few who was alive before the catastrophe changed the earth forever. Eli wanders into a dusty town in the middle of nowhere and is thrown into a collision course with the mean through and through, Carnegie (Gary Oldman), who wants to bring civilization back to the world through domination. He has all his minions bringing every book they can find to him in hopes of finding “The Book.”

First things first, it’s no real plot spoiler to reveal that the book Eli is carrying and Carnegie is searching for is the Holy Bible. We eventually find out that after the mysterious war, all of the Bibles were destroyed because they were “what started it all,” obviously suggesting some kind of extreme Christian-Muslim Holy War. Eli is delivering the book to safety…Carnegie wants Eli’s Bible, the last in existence, because he knows that he can use it as a “weapon” to lead people to blindly follow its words and instantly attain power over them. They both understand the power of “The Word.”

If you like action movies you’ll probably love The Book of Eli. Eli appears almost invincible. His lightening quick reflexes are amazing. Here blood flies magnificently and Eli performs extravagant feats of karate, without breaking much of a sweat. He really is righteous in the religious sense but the righteousness is delivered with few words, never sanctimonious. He is a Saint…of sorts. Gary Whitta’s script seems set out to mimic the contours of a religious parable. It has simplicity, sweep, incredible last minute plot twists, mystical happenings and a fundamental belief in Faith, as in the Christian kind.

Early in the movie, when Eli is asked about the way things used to be, he says, “People had more than they needed. They didn’t know what was precious. People kill now for what we threw away then.”

If that isn’t a message, I don’t know what is. Maybe now is a time for us to get leaner, and simplify. Find out what is truly precious.

As always, I welcome your comments at chastings@rockcliff.com.

The comings and goings of Michael Crabtree have dominated 49er training camps in each of his two seasons with the team. Last year the first round draft choice sat out training camp and the first five games of the regular season in a contract dispute. This year, he made it to camp but a neck injury has kept him out of all the preseason games, and his lack of attention to detail led to a profane and public calling out from offensive captain Vernon Davis.

The exact content of the 20-minute heated discussion between Davis and Crabtree was not shared with the public. What is known is that many on the San Francisco roster are tiring of Crabtree’s diva-like behavior but feel powerless to say anything because of the young receiver’s skill and position in the organization.

Crabtree was selected 10th overall by the 49ers in the 2009 draft after his sophomore season at Texas A&M. In his very first game with the team, despite having become the longest rookie holdout in 49er history, Crabtree caught five passes for 56 yards and played more snaps than any other receiver on the team. Crabtree finished his rookie campaign with 48 receptions, 625 yards and 2 touchdowns in only 11 games. He led all rookie receivers with 56.8 yards per game.

That performance on top of his six year, $32 million contract ($17 million guaranteed) has obviously made him special in the eyes of the 49ers organization, and it appears that Crabtree has taken full advantage by milking his Aug. 12 neck injury for all its value and minimizing his work in training camp. On Sep. 1, Davis decided enough was enough.

Head coach Mike Singletary not only seemed to endorse the 20-minute on-field conversation, he let it continue in the locker room afterwards. When he faced the media after practice, he wasn’t exactly dismayed with what took place even if he seemed to wish Davis had handled things a little differently.

“You have kids and every now and then your kids have some misunderstandings or what have you and they forget that there is a father at home,” said Singletary. “They were both wrong. And we will not have distractions on this team, Vernon just forgot temporarily, and that is not allowed. We don’t do that. We don’t treat family like that. We don’t disrespect each other. And I just needed to remind him that that’s not who we are. He’s fine. He did a great job. He’s one of the captains. He did the right thing, but he did it the wrong way.”

Certainly the 49ers hope that the next bit of Crabtree news relates to his on the field prowess. In college he was the first two-time winner of the Fred Biletnikoff Award as the top receiver in the NCAA. He also won the similar Paul Warfield Award twice in his only two years as an undergraduate player and was a multiple first team All America Selection.

Beyond his perfect record avoiding preseason games for two consecutive seasons, the Chronicle reports that Crabtree frequently ignores the media and is one of the very few players unresponsive after games, even wins. At age 23 the 6-1, 217 pound physical genius does not seem to understand that the main conduit between players and fans is the media, and that he will have very little goodwill on which to fall back if his on-field performance slips.

What may save Crabtree is the understanding that his financial future is tied up in his behavior as well as his performance. He has endorsement deals with EA Sports to appear on their game boxes, and with Subway to promote their sandwiches. Those jobs will demand that Crabtree develop a positive persona as well as help the 49ers win games.

Currently there is a great deal of press coverage about a Muslim community center being built in New York City near where the twin towers were – now referred to as “ground zero.” I don’t want to get into the dispute on this somewhat delicate subject, but it did cause me to look back over my travels and reminisce about the wide variety of places of worship that I have visited. I hope you will bear with me while I muse over a few of them that stand out in my mind.

Let me start out with the most memorable Christian service I attended. Barb and I had decided to decompress from an “around-the-world” trip by spending a couple of weeks in the Cook Islands. We rented a small beach-side cottage about ten kilometers from the main city of Avarua on the island of Rarotonga. The cottage was a little off the beaten path, and this location prompted us to rent a car. (The local buses operated on their own sweet time schedule…)

As we sat around one Saturday evening watching the sun sink slowly in the west, it dawned upon us that the next day was Easter. We looked up churches and found that Rarotonga had a church about every mile on the route that circled the island. So we chose one that was close to our cottage. The service on that Easter Sunday turned out to be one of the finest we have ever attended. In our effort to maintain a low profile we sat in the back row of the balcony. Not easy. The ushers kept trying to get the two visitors to sit in row one, but we won out.

The view from above was fantastic. All the ladies wore colorful, flowered hats adorned with local blooms. These contrasted with their male seatmates’ attire which consisted of white shirts and dark trousers. The music was totally a cappella, led by a chorus of ladies who sang the verse, followed by the entire congregation responding with the chorus of each song.

Perhaps the most contrasting house of worship which we have visited was the mosque in Brunei. I debated selecting this because the Mohammed Ali Mosque in Cairo, Egypt was by far the more impressive structure. (By the way, it was not named after the boxer – it was the other way around.) The Kiarong Mosque in Brunei was much more traditionally Muslim than the one in Egypt. The weather in Brunei was a standard one hundred four degrees Fahrenheit, but this did not dissuade our guide from dressing Barb in an abaya (the traditional long black robe) and, of course, the head covering to go with it. Our shoes and socks were left at the door, and we were only allowed into certain areas of the Mosque. The most obvious variation for us was the lack of seats or benches. A few worshipers were in attendance, and we watched as they proceeded through the ritual of prayer. It required a degree of dexterity as one went from standing, to kneeling, to touching one’s forehead to the floor. All this was done on the traditional prayer rug. The facilities themselves were polished and immaculate – a very impressive place of worship.

An Orthodox Church we visited, Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, was in Tallinn, Estonia. Once again there was an absence of benches, and the congregation stood while the officiant appeared from behind an altar to speak to those present. Dressed in flowing robes and with a heavy beard, he chanted his ritual while walking among the parishioners. His voice, loud and clear, made the small chapel resonate with warmth. I am sure his congregation felt the presence of God.

I have written before about my experience in the Buddhist Temple in Luang, Prabhang. Here we became uninvited witnesses to a family council. A wife who had been unfaithful, a younger man who was the culprit, and the cuckolded husband all sat with the respective friends and relatives at the feet of a great sitting Buddha, debating the fate of this marriage. The image of this group huddled around their mutual God-figure expressing an honesty that could happen only in such a sacred environment left a lasting impression.

During my life and my travels I have also discovered that a place of worship does not necessarily need to be “in a building.”

An example of the “no building” worship site is the Western Wall (or Wailing Wall) in Jerusalem. This is a remnant of the Wall that surrounded the historic Jewish Temple. Here I watched as long lines of pilgrims and Israeli natives stood waiting for their turn to worship in a historic site – very holy to them. Their reverence and emotion was overwhelming.

Finally, this is the last but certainly not the least of my theological recollections. Barb and I were invited by the cooking/serving staff at Kichwa Tembo Camp in Masai Mara, Kenya to attend their evening devotion. Here, around a huge fire with only the star-studded African sky providing illumination, we witnessed a pantheistic ceremony. We could hear and to some extent see the giraffes and elephants roaming free and grazing out beyond our protective fence. I still smile when I think about that night.

Remembrances – each experience full of reverence, worship, and respect.