Film Review: Noah.

Described by director Darren Aronfsky as “The least biblical biblical film ever made,” I was not expecting Noah the movie to be an exact word for word account of the story in Genesis! This would have been quite difficult to achieve as the biblical story in genesis is only four chapters long!

We also have another account, or  perhaps I should say another interpretation which inspired the launch (figuratively speaking) of a thousand toy arks and sets of paired jungle/farm/pet animals along with a smiley Mr & Mrs Noah made of anything from wood or plastic through to wool or cloth. The Noah’s Ark of our childhood always consisted of the smiley old Noah and the emphasis was placed firmly on the pairs of happy animals going on to the ark, two by two to “get out of the rain”. It ends happily with the dove returning with the olive leaf and animals tumbling out of the ark into the sunshine to all live happily ever after. (Quite right too when aimed at preschoolers!)

To me in some ways even the biblical Noah is a lot darker than the fluffy, cute childhood version suggests. As well as the biblical account, there is other evidence to show that there was indeed a great flood at that time. This can be found in an ancient poem “The Epic of Gilgamesh” and various other ancient writings.

For a God so intent on rescuing his fallen people (the Old and New Testament are full of stories of new starts and redemption, from Adam through to Jesus then on to Paul) the drowning of so many people seems out of character. As one with pacifist tendencies and who has developed a forgiving nature I find this difficult, however evil the people were. I’m sure some would disagree and would say that those who commit acts of evil should indeed die and there are plenty who would like to see the return of the death penalty. I struggle with some of the other Old Testament stories for the same reason, but as one friend once pointed out, those people were beyond any evil we have experienced, they are not basically nice people out washing their cars or a petty minded parking assistant, they were those who practiced such evils as human sacrifices, child abuse and other evil deeds, people who had lost touch with any sense of compassion or even respect of others and live only for their own selfish gratification without regard for anyone else’s needs or rights. Even as a not-quite pacifist I can see that sometimes normally accepted polite requests to stop or even the most skilled negotiations will not work.

The sins shown in the film are certainly extremely evil – genocide and the total destruction of the environment to name but two of them and the people who are left are clearly living in fear of the evildoers.

It’s quite a challenge to review a film without giving away the entire plot so I won’t go into too much detail as to exactly what happens. Those who are fazed by anything other than literal interpretation or those who are expecting a very biblical biblical epic will be frustrated or disappointed. Those who are not familiar with the biblical story won’t be able to tell what’s biblical and what’s not and will probably enjoy it at face value as a good film, which on one level it is.

 You can tell some research has been done into the genealogy of Noah and the film includes some of Noah’s ancestors. There is also a fair amount of “artistic licence” in how these characters have been developed. A connection between the families of Cain and Adam’s later son Seth is explored and developed in a creative way.  At times I felt as though I was watching a science fiction film and to me it had a kind of Star Warsy feel. A friend also likened it to Lord of the Rings. There are points where the biblical version and the film part company quite dramatically and this throws up some interesting issues and dilemmas which certainly got me thinking.  We don’t really know exactly what would have happened in the ark or what it would be like in that situation or what kinds of issues that family faced. It probably wasn’t as calm and serene as we would possibly think. As one who gets affected by sea sickness in any but the calmest of boats on the most tranquil of seas I think I would certainly begin to lose the plot a little! In this film there are certainly more than a few twists in the original tale. Did I enjoy it? Yes, once I got over the comparisons to the biblical version.  Would I recommend it? Not to anyone who likes a biblical story to be as it is in the bible or to anyone watching it because they want to understand more of the bible. However, it would be an interesting place to start a discussion or exploration, especially if you did follow it up with reading the biblical version. If you enjoy a good film with plenty of action and a few moral dilemmas thrown in then you may well enjoy it. Now, where’s my Evan Almighty DVD?

To read the real story of Noah and the Ark, you can find it in Genesis (At the beginning of the Bible,) chapters 6-9.