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nTitle: Noah (2014)
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nDirector: Darren Aronofsky
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nCast: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone, EmmanWatson, Anthony Hopkins, Logan Lerman
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nJust so you guys know where I’m coming from with thisnreview, I’m not a Christian, but I’ll watch movies like Noah because I lovenmovies and I love how they attempt to wow us, how they comment on humanity andnhow they try to entertain us. Biblical movies are an interesting bunch because ifndone wrong, they will always end up pissing somebody off, probably a Christian.nBut to me, biblical movies are as entertaining as any other fantasy film, whatnmatters to me when I watch any film is if it’s entertaining or moving somehow,nif it has something to say. I went to see The Passion of the Christ (2005) tonsee what the big deal was all about and to my surprise I ended up beingngenuinely moved by some moments in the film. Any habitual film goer and booknworm finds it interesting to see a book they’ve read come to life in some way, so that’s the mentality I go with when I go see movies like this one. So my status as ‘unbeliever’ does not stop menfrom enjoying films that deal with Christian themes. In fact, since I am anformer Christian; I can enjoy them on a whole other level because I know the sourcenmaterial. I read the bible a couple of times back in my church going days, so Inknow the text and I know when a film is stretching the limits of their ‘artisticnliberties’, case in point Aronofsky’s Noah and its myriad ways of telling andifferent story then the one depicted in the bible. On this review I pinpointnthe specific elements that aren’t related to Noah’s tale, so if you don’t wantncertain elements spoiled for you, you’ve been warned!
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nFor those of you who haven’t read the tale of Noah, this isnthe story of a man who is contacted by God himself. God tells him that he isngoing to be destroying every human on the planet because man had become evil,ncorrupt and violent. In other words, God wants to reboot humanity. Yet Noah andnhis family are lucky; In Gods eyes they are the only good people left in thenwhole entire planet. The bible says that Noah was “righteous” and “blameless”namongst the people of his time, so when god’s wrath comes down on the earthnthrough a massive planet wide flood, Noah and his family will get a free ticketnto survival. But before the rain starts to fall, God tells Noah to build an arknand put two of all the animals in the world in it so they will survive thenflood. That’s the gist of it. And that’s essentially what you’ll get in this film, the problem is that along with it, you’ll get a bunch of other elements that have nothing to do with the bible, in fact, they are so alien to the story of Noah that they just might completely take you out of the film.
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nWhen it comes to biblical movies, as a filmmaker, you have to be veryncareful. You don’t won’t to deviate too far away from the source material becausenthen you’ll have Christian’s boycotting your film and you don’t want thatnbecause it could mean the death of your film. You don’t want to anger yourntarget audience, which is basically what this movie undoubtedly does. It has sonmany elements that are not in the bible! What elements am I talking about?nWell, for example, in the film Anthony Hopkins plays Methuselah, who accordingnto the bible was one of the oldest humans to ever exist, so okay, we’re goodntill there…but then Aronofsky gives Methuselah magical powers? Now I don’t findnthat all that weird because the bible actually acknowledges magic as beingnsomething real. The problem is that in Noah’s story, Methuselah is not anpractitioner of magic! Now the bible talks about magicians and sorcerers, butnit doesn’t say that Methuselah was one of them. The artistic liberties don’tnstop there.
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nThen we have the most controversial element of the film, thengiant rock creatures. I know right? Now strange creatures aren’t all thatncontroversial to me when it comes to the bible because the bible talks aboutndragons, unicorns, creatures with ten heads, four faces and a whole cornucopianof strange beings, but the thing with the rock creatures that aid Noah innconstructing the ark is that they are not in the bible, at all, and so rightnhere is where Christians will put a screeching halt on this movie and say its heresy.nI’ve yet to understand why Aronofsky chose to use these creatures as part ofnthe story. I mean, did he do it on purpose to piss of Christians and get themnto go to the movies? Was it to get everyone talking about it? Some sort ofnpublicity stunt to get people talking furiously about the film? In either case,nit’s a risky move because this could go either way. It could get Christians to boycott the film and call Aronofksynthe Antichrist, or it could make people want to see the film more. Now knowingnhow Christians react to films like this, I think it will make them see thenmovie in droves; just to see what the big deal was all about. But there’s nonway of denying that Aronofsky took a huge risk here.
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nTo top things off, Aronofsky depicts Noah all wrong. Younsee, in this film Noah thinks that God is bringing the flood because he wantsnto completely eradicate humans from the face of the earth, when in reality, it’snthe complete opposite. Allow me to explain. True; God does feel disappointed withnhumanity and wants to wipe them out, but in the bible, God clearly states tonNoah that he wants for humanity and animals to continue living; I mean that’snthe whole point behind saving the animals, so that after the flood is throughnthey can roam the land once again and propagate, it goes without saying that God wants to save Noah and his family for the exact same reason. For allnintents and purposes, God wants humanity to continue. But for some reason,nAronofsky’s Noah thinks he and his family are meant to be the last humans onnthe planet and that they are not to have babies? So when one of Noah’s familynmembers becomes pregnant he thinks he has to kill the babies? That whole thing?nSo not in the bible! This course of action makes Noah look evil and crazynsomehow. Now killing your children in the name of God is not something unheardnof in the bible (just ask Abraham!) but again, this does not happen to Noah innthe bible.
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nNow if you’re keen on reading between the lines andnenjoy extrapolating on ideas and possible interpretations of what we see in films,nthen you might infer, as I have, that Aronofsky is actually trying to point atnsome particularly hard to swallow elements in the bible. Through Methuselah andnhis use of magic, Aronofsky points at the fact that in the bible, magic isnreal, and condemned, which is a preposterous idea in my book, hell evennsorcerers are real in the bible. Through the now infamous rock creatures,nAronofsky seems to be saying we shouldn’t find them so strange, after all, thenbible talks about talking snakes, giants roaming the earth and even dragons! Byndepicting Noah as a man who thinks he has to kill babies in the name of God,nwell, Abraham was going to do that at some point, which if you ask me is thencraziest part of the bible, and one that I am completely against. Honestly, ifnGod told me to kill my child I’d scream from the top of my lungs “HELL NO!”;nyet I’ve personally met Christians who say they would kill their child if Godnasked them to. And to me that’s just crazy. So through his depiction of Noah,nAronofsky addresses issues of blind fanatism in religion.
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nAronofsky is one of my favorite filmmakers, he’s made somentruly amazing films and the question remains, is Noah one of them? I’m not gonna say it’s a terrible film or badly acted or written, becausenit’s quite the opposite. The cast is amazing, the visual effects worknastounding, the only real problem is that it’s not the story you might expect.nArnofsky takes incredible liberties with the text in order to say what he wantsnto say. There’s no doubt in my mind that these elements will irk some peoplenout there. I’m just saying, if you’re going to see Noah, don’t expect to seenthe biblical story represented faithfully, Noah was just Aronofksy playing aroundnwith biblical themes and ultimately, if you ask me, pointing a finger at thenmore difficult to accept elements from the bible. Discuss!
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nRating: 4 out of 5
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