Movie Monday - Noah

Noah was seriously one of the most thought provoking and interesting movies I’ve seen in a really long time.  I didn’t even want to bother with the movie, but Tanner insisted.  1 point for Tanner:) I really had no idea what the movie was going to be like, other than my personal familiarity with the story of Noah, from the King James version of the Bible.  A few seconds into the movie I knew it was something different. There are rock giants, the earth is dry and dead, and Noah seems like a normal guy.  Instead of being commanded to build an arc by some glorious vision, Noah is told through a nightmarish dream or hallucination. The earth itself is bleeding, and he sees the destruction of man engulfed in water, and the animals rising to the top, not sinking, He sees the mountain of his grandfather Methuselah, who is still favored by the Creator.  Methuselah helps Noah to make sense of the dreams he’s been having and his purpose in building the arc.  I don’t really think there is a point in going into the specific ins and outs of the movie. It is definitely action packed, and there is never a dull moment., but here is my opinion on all  the “controversial” parts of the movie. That being said I’m probably going to spoil the story SO go see it, and THEN read this. 

First off, the “rock giants.”  I had no problem at all with the rock giants.  They were described as light/angels who were supposed to watch over man, but they got too involved and were basically cursed and sent to earth in these gigantic rock bodies.  AWESOME!  Genesis 6:4 “there were giants in the earth in those days…” This is something I’ve wondered about many times in my personal study. There were GIANTS? Aronofsky explains this.  Everything in the movie was HIS attempt at making sense of what is actually IN the bible.  The Rock Giants purpose was to help man and support the Creator, but mankind had turned wicked and the giants could be of no use to them.  When these beings of fallen light realize that Noah was following the Creators plan, they were there to help him.  I’m not sure why this bothers people.  We can believe in the earth being completely covered by water, but not in beings that are there to help Noah build an Arc?  Is it more believable that Noah built the arc on his own? Miracles are only believable when it is convenient? The story of Noah wouldn’t exist without miracles, so why not rock giants? 2+ of every animal come from all over the world to be saved in an arc as mankind is completely destroyed because of their wickedness, but ROCK GIANTS are too much to handle. Whatever.

Next, Noah having hallucinogenic visions, not a divine light from heaven telling him that the world is a horrible place and it needs to be taken out, is also weirding people out I guess.  How does God talk to people today? Does he open up the heavens and send us guidance and direction, NOPE, through feelings and dreams and subtle inclinations.  This is very believable to me.  It’s a LITTLE darker than maybe I WANT to picture it as, BUT come on… If you had a dream about the entire world being devoured and destroyed by water, it would be a nightmare.  I love how Aronofsky is showing us how this was not a light decision for Noah.  There wasn’t just going to be this passive flood, that would just happen to come upon the earth so he’d better go sail the earth for a year. Genesis 6:13 “And God said unto Noah, The end of ALL FLESH is come before me.”  That is pretty deliberate and terrifying.

Another thing people are coming away with, is that there is this “tree hugger” message.  Ok. I see what your saying, but I also don’t.  The world is pretty brand new right? There literally aren’t that many animals. The bible says in Genesis 6:5 that the people were so wicked, that ALL they did was evil.  Ok, so is it evil to destroy the entire population of animals by brutally ripping them apart and eating them raw…. I dunno, that seems evil to me.  How is Aronofsky supposed to present a clear concise story with so much of it literally not spelled out for us?  Oh that’s right, he has to focus on a few things and leave others out, and since a big portion of the story of Noah is saving the animals… it was a smart decision to stick with the brutality towards animals, as being a big part of the “wickedness.”  Furthermore, once they are off the arc, God tells Noah that everything on the earth is “meat” for them, except they should not eat animals (Genesis 9:4). Many times in the scriptures, people told not to eat meat for different reasons, so to me, this is a very likely scenario leading up to the flood.

When Noah and his family are in the Arc, it becomes pretty clear that Noah believes that his family is not meant to survive this storm either, after all, the Creator did say that ALL FLESH had to end both men and beasts.  With thousands of people and animals just dying around him, of course he would wonder what makes his family so special.  They have faults too, and aren’t purely good, why would they be permitted to live when ALL OTHERS had to die.  This fear and saddens engulfs him. He was so devoted to following the Creator’s plan, but he just didn’t understand it yet.  How many times have we received answers to prayers and thought we were doing the right thing, and then had doubts because it wasn’t unfolding how we thought it would?  Noah is human. Why is he except from this?  He was just the facilitator of God’s plan to DESTROY everything he had created, save those who were on the arc, because evil had spread like a cancer throughout the earth. That is a huge weight on his shoulders.  If he WASN’T having some sort of feelings about this, then I can’t believe in the story of Noah.  At this point he is so low, and feels so confused, that he feels that he has to kill his future grandchildren.  This is something that is eating him up.  He knows deep down that this cannot possibly be God’s plan, even though at this point, he isn’t sure what God’s plan is exactly.  BRILLIANT. I love Aronofsky’s portrayal of Noah’s internal struggles and humanizing him.  Of course THIS whole scenario didn’t happen, because Ham and Japheth had wives on the arc, but in the time allotted, I loved Aronofsky’s choices here.  Noah didn’t always believe his family was supposed to die too, when he first started building the arc he knew he was supposed to save his family AND the animals, but it isn’t crazy to assume that he would have doubts a LITTLE bit as everything unfolded.

Others have told me they don’t like that God doesn’t miraculously step in to save the babies.  Why does this bother you?  The point of that choice, in my opinion, isn’t to say that God can’t do it, or that the babies didn’t deserve a miracle, I believe it was more important to show that Noah DID understand the plan, and that he himself had been clouded by fear, and doubt, and it was important for him to make this choice on his own, and truly succumb to the Creators TRUE plan.  I really like that choice. It was beautiful and miraculous all in itself.  It shows that men DO have power to overcome temptations and evil.

At the end of the movie when they are all off the arc, we see Noah, drinking wine, and just completely broken. He falls on the beach naked, and this too is bothering people apparently.  BUT Genesis 9:20-23 “And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine and was drunken…and Ham… saw the nakedness of his father… and Shem and Japheth took a garment… and covered the nakedness of their father…” After all that happened to Noah, I’m sure it was weighing on him.  He like anyone else would have to go through a grieving process to come to terms with what all just happened.  In the end, Noah DID continue to serve the Lord. He continued to help his family and replenish the earth. 

Although there were many things in this movie that were probably a little extreme, what Aronofsky did brilliantly, was help humanize Noah, and show his struggles and his conviction in a way that has never been done before.  It left me with a feeling of such love and gratitude towards Noah for being able to make those hard choices, and follow the will of God despite all odds.  It gives me hope that when I have struggles and trials in my own life, I too can overcome them, with the help of God.  I love how Aronofsky showed us that doing the right thing isn’t always easy.  Of course HIS purposes in creating this movie may not be what I took out of it at all, but isn’t THAT the true purpose of “art” anyways? To present us with something that lets us learn and grow and feel? I think so.  

           Jess