Noah

This post has been sitting in my draft folder for a couple months. I decided it was time to hit publish.

 

I’m always way behind the times when it comes to movies. The hubby and I finally got around to watching Noah. And I gotta say, I really liked it.

I had grown weary of seeing Facebook posts denouncing the movie, calling it heretical. I knew that it deviated from the Bible, but I thought some of the flack it was getting was a little much. The Bible is incredibly devoid of detail in so many stories. It’s impossible to create a big screen version by sticking strictly to the original script.

After seeing it, here are my thoughts:

  • Movies are a form of art. Filmmakers create films to bring beauty, laughter, depth, and thought to the world. I thought Noah was a beautiful work of art.
  • The film went way off script. WAY off. I get why people were greatly offended. It was like the Bible meets Lord of the Rings. But I don’t know; it worked for me. When I read the Old Testament, I always kind of visualize the characters as Aragorn.
  • Noah was not meant to be a Biblical retelling of the story. I believe the intent was to look at it from a different angle. What if Noah really did think the flood was God’s way of wiping out all of humanity with no intent to rebuild?  What if he believed he was given the burden of ensuring that mankind would not continue on?
  • I really appreciated the way the film showed the dark side of the story. So often Noah’s ark is reduced to a happy nursery rhyme with sweet little animals marching two by two. The film showed the utter despair and darkness that had fallen over the world. It showed an achingly intense picture of how depraved humanity had become. And when Noah and his family sat inside the ark and listened to the screams of terror outside, it broke my heart. The flood killed everyone. There’s not much happiness in that.
  • The emotions portrayed by the characters was beautiful. Love, loyalty, anger, regret, hatred. It showed the scope of human nature so well. And Emma Watson. I just adore her.
  • The camerawork (cinematography?) was amazing. I was so struck by the time lapse scenes. There were simply no words.

The film wasn’t the greatest film ever, but it was good. You may not agree with it, but there is beauty to be found in it. And maybe instead of simply becoming offended, we can use the film as a starting point for conversation with others. Let’s talk about what we didn’t like or what we did like. Share why the true story of Noah impacts you. Or why it doesn’t.

After watching the film, I’m inspired to reread some Old Testament stories. It reminded me of the amazing stories there are to be found there. That certainly isn’t a bad thing.

2 Replies to “Noah”

  1. It doesn’t bother me too much that it didn’t adhere to the Bible. To think that Hollywood would do it the way we want it doesn’t even cross my mind. I just don’t really want my Bible stories on the big screen. I want to create them in my mind for myself. I am much more interested in Christians making good art than I am in Hollywood making movies that are based on the Bible or that are supposed to appeal to us.

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