Audience Member
I rented <i>Eli's Coming</i> based on the synopsis alone. A Jewish boy, just before his bar mitzvah, realizes that he has doubts about the existence of God. He decides to run away with his hippie, atheist uncle Ned... but gets more than he bargains for! Until now, my experience with religious films has been mostly filled with the films of the Southern Baptists; so of course I was excited to finally see a Jewish film.
But it's not so much a Jewish film as a film that centers around a Jewish family. Well, that's not entirely true. There is an awful lot of preaching that goes on in the film about how proud you should be of being Jewish (even if you don't believe in God), but <i>Eli's Coming</i> isn't as staid as the Christian movies I've seen usually are. For instance, there are a few swear words used by many of the film's adult characters, and at one point 13-year old Joshua flips off his orthodox uncle Sol.
Both Ned and Sol get thoroughly skewered for their extremism. Interestingly enough, Ned's atheism is never directly addressed, but his hippie lifestyle is satirized constantly. He is shown as being hypocritical and immature, living with his parents while thinking that he is changing the world. He is even chastised for "romanticizing the black man". The orthodox Sol is shown throwing a full turkey away because it is the wrong day for meat and accuses Ned of "brainwashing [Joshua] into freethinking". Josh's parents are apathetic - they go to temple only a few times a year (on major holidays), they care deeply what other people think, and they are occasionally free with their swearing.
So I guess the hero of the film is Elijah, a custodian who works at the temple turning on lights for the orthodox Jews who refuse to work even the simplest of machines on the Sabbath. For some reason, even though other inane beliefs are challenged in <i>Eli's Coming</i>, not one word of criticism is leveled against this ridiculous practice. Regardless, Elijah is supposed to represent a prophet from the Talmud or Torah or some such who speaks to a child, but it's not really clear. Maybe if I were Jewish, it would make more sense.
Josh wanders amongst this group of people (and his Rabbi, too), trying to understand what faith is, why it is important, and what it means to be Jewish. Since most of the characters are obviously meant to represent the <i>wrong</i> mode of thought, I can only assume that Elijah is supposed to represent the right kind of thought. But what does Elijah think? He is careful never to say, which maybe isn't so surprising given that apparently a lot of Judaism is about delivering mysterious koans.
It's almost like a Jewish version of <i>A Christmas Story</i>, given that the movie is narrated from a future Josh who tells the story with an attempt at wry thoughtfulness and humor. The acting is pretty broad, but otherwise the movie is largely tolerable. It doesn't come across as excessively preachy (although it is), and the soft humor is enjoyable enough even if it isn't exciting. The occasional swearing is surprising, but not really offensive... unless you are so wrapped up in your religion that a word will throw you into fits of terror.
Altogether, <i>Eli's Coming</i> wasn't what I was expecting to be. It wasn't the overbearing, patronizing religious film that I've come to expect from all religious films. It was... okay. Not good, certainly, but not terrible either.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
01/15/23
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