Noah

“Noah”

The advertisement on the television the day before we saw the movie said that “Noah” was the number one movie “in all the world.”  Amazing!  I’ve never heard those words said before in an advertisement.  “In all the world.”  And I guess it was.

So, what did I think of the Darren Aronofsky movie?  Well, first of all, I’m glad I saw it.  Secondly, if I hadn’t known the Biblical story I would have said that it had almost nothing at all to do with the Bible.  That’s not to say it was a bad movie.  It had its moments and if you came away from this movie not realizing that the world is very evil and that human beings can be and are very evil, you missed the point.  I think that Martin Luther and the Apostle Paul would have liked the movie’s focus on the utter depravity of man and mankind.

But, hey, I digress.  First of all, things I liked about the movie.  Noah was very human and didn’t spend his time talking to the clouds.  Who else but Russell Crowe could pull this off?  His wife was long-suffering.  She (Jennifer Connelly) even gets a name, Naameh.  His children were depicted as very human too.  I enjoyed it when Noah shared the history of creation with his family.  This was done well.  I even appreciated God being referred to as the “Creator.”  I think this conscious scripting was carefully done to make this movie appeal to people in “all the world” but I thought that this was OK.  I also liked the characterization of Methuselah.  I think Anthony Hopkins deserves a best-supporting actor nomination for his role.

Secondly, things I didn’t care for.  I question if Noah and his family were vegetarian as this movie seems to suggest.  I think the bias of the film writers was coming out here.  As the film was being made I’m wondering if they allowed the caterers to serve meat at the cast meals.  And Noah’s decision to end the human race with his little family?  Come on.  Whoever wrote that must have read and taken to heart or to the next level that unique 2007 book, “The World Without Us” by Alan Weisman.  And Noah’s insanity?  Well, I think that the ark-building probably did make Noah a little (or a lot) crazy but his insistence on ending the human race seemed very out of character and especially out of Biblical character.  And how about a stowaway on the Ark?  At least the stowaway was the negative Biblical character, Tubal-Cain (Ray Winstone).  I’m wondering if one of the lines of species that he ended as he ate in secret was the unicorn.  Finally, the Rock people who used to be angels.  I guess that there is a little hint of this in the Nephilim mentioned in the Bible (Genesis 6:4).  But these creatures in the movie seemed to be leftover rejects from an old Transformer movie.  Come on!

 Thirdly, things that made me think.  I’ve always thought and believed that the Ark was God’s way of saving the world as the earth was cleansed by water.  This was good.  The world is very evil and longs for such cleansing and I rejoice in Christian Baptism.  I’ve also thought that the animals on the Ark might have been in some state of suspended animation as the flood waters continued and this movie suggests that the concoction that Noah and his wife made did indeed put the animals into hibernating sleep.  I also like the environmental focus.  The movie seemed to suggest that man’s pollution and waste was destroying the world.  How true this is!  I thought that the depiction of Noah’s drunkenness was well done, though Ham’s role in sinning against his father is never really explored.  The movie also never belittles the idea that the world could be repopulated with just a handful of animals and humans.  I think that even archeological suggestions about the first “true” human beings and their progeny also support this truth.

Should you see the movie?  There is no bad language but because of the intensity and violence it is definitely not a movie for young children.  I would recommend it but I also recommend that you simply read the Biblical account of Noah and flood in Genesis 6-9 and also remember that the Creator always has the last laugh. 

The Rev. Willis R. Schwichtenberg, pastorswitz@ourgodwithus.com, is Associate Pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Freeport, Illinois.