Noah
(2014) Starring:
Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone, Emma Watson, Logan Lerman,
Anthony Hopkins Directed by Darren Aronofsky Screenplay by Darren Aronofsky,
Ari Handel Producedby Scott Franklin, Darren Aronofsky, Mary Parent, Arnon
Milchan Run time 139 minutes. US. Color. Biblical, Epic. Drama
Hollywood has had a love affair with the
Bible and biblical fiction going almost as far back as film was first cranked through the camera. One of the earliest examples is a fifteen minute short
based on Lew
Wallace's novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ from 1907. But sections of
the Bible have been mined for feature films including The Ten Commandments,
which was made into movies twice by Cecil B. DeMille in 1927 and again in 1956.
Noah’s Ark has also been given the feature treatment three times: Noah’s Ark
(1928) directed by Michael Curtiz; Noah’s Ark (1999) directed by John Irvin and
Noah (2014) directed by Darren Aronofsky.
The story of Noah is not just a Christian
story. Since it appears in the book of Genesis in the Old Testament, it is also
part of Judaism and the story is also told in the Islamic Quran. The story
itself does not take up much room in Genesis, being told in Chapters 6 through 9.
In short, based on the wickedness of the world, God has decided to wipe the
Earth clean and start again. He speaks to Noah, who builds an Ark to save the
animals of the world, while it rains for 40 days and 40 nights. As the water
recedes, the Ark crashes into Mount Ararat. Noah releases the animals and makes
a covenant with God, who promises He would never flood the Earth again.
Watching the new film Noah, I was reminded of my
experience watching the Lord of the Ring films in that situations and
characters were introduced as if I was already familiar with everyone. I’m not
a Bible scholar and I had never read Tolkien’s work. The character names are
sometimes hard to catch and I spent a lot of time wondering if Noah’s middle
son’s name Ham was spelled like the pork product, the actor from Mad Men or like the rock group (Spoiler
alert, it’s the pork product).
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| Russell Crowe plays Noah. |
While a self-proclaimed atheist like
Aronofsky has as much right to make a Biblical film as anyone, the question
might be why? His take doesn’t try to disprove the story or the existence of
God, though He is only referred to over and over again as the Creator. What Aronofsky does do is embellish the story with characters and events that were not part of
Genesis and he adds an even more surreal mythical paranormal element to it as
well. I had to do some post viewing research to determine the elements he and
Ari Handel had added to punch up God’s story. (I’ll leave it up to you decide
if He needs a rewrite.)
The film is heavily laden with special
effects, which sometimes look unreal. There were supposedly no animals
used in the scenes involving the Ark (and this is not your daddy’s Ark either,
in shape). The acting is pretty good,
though I sometimes get lost when a character says one thing, but then does
something completely different. I won’t go into who and what; don’t want to
ruin the film for you.
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| No animals were harmed in the making of Noah, because no animals were used. |
Russell Crowe, as usual, gives a very strong
performance of a very troubled man. Again, there are elements of Noah’s
personality and choices that he makes that I don’t believe are in the original
story. They do however provide a depth to the character and give the actor more
to do than just be righteous. Jennifer Connelly is also pretty good as Noah’s wife Naameh. Anthony
Hopkins, last seen as Odin in Thor: The Dark World (2013), plays Methuselah, Noah’s
grandfather. His part is serious, mystical and provides the only comedic relief
in an otherwise very serious film. Emma Watson of Harry Potter fame plays Ila,
Noah’s daughter-in-law and the wife of eldest son, Shem (Douglas Booth). Ila is one of the “new” characters added to
fill out an otherwise thin story.
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| Naameh (Jennifer Connelly), Shem (Douglas Booth) and Ila (Emma Watson) in Noah. |
The film has found its fair share of controversy. Any
Biblical inspired film is likely to attract some unless it is a strict word for word
adaptation of chapter and verse. I don’t know or really care about their beefs
with the films, since many criticized it sight unseen. Perhaps it was an
evolution spin put on the first Seven Days, as we see fish venture onto land
and become mammals all during one of those days; a Clarence Darrow
interpretation of Biblical verse.
I hate to say it, but I found the film rather slow paced and
uninvolving. If you have a strong interest in seeing the film, for whatever
reason, I would tell you to go ahead. But if you’re a little iffy, then I would
recommend a pass.
