Movie Fails to Give Viewers a ‘Straightforward’ Biblical Depiction
Most of us have heard of the biblical story of Noah’s Ark. It’s a story about a man who had visions and signs from his “creator” about a great flood that was coming to destroy mankind. Noah is told to build an ark and inside this ark will be two of every creature and Noah’s family.
On March 28, the movie Noah came out as a rendition of the biblical story. In going to see this movie, I watched it in comparison to the actual biblical text. Taking from a spiritual background, the movie was interesting but lacked in the biblical sense. The movie could have gone into a little more in depth about the story and the actual things that happened.
Like the Bible, the movie starts with Noah having visions of a flood coming and not exactly sure as why he was chosen to see this. He asked for help from a man he calls grandfather, who has supernatural powers. He then receives revelation that he is supposed to build an ark. The place where it starts to deviate from the story is when these “rock monsters” come out of no where and say they were there to help the people and keep the land the way the “Creator” wanted it.
It was vague parts like that that made me think whether the story was supposed to be a depiction of the Bible story or whether it was a good story to add effects and graphics to. The images and graphics of the movie made it worth the watch but for those who went for the biblical side of the story it was a bit misleading.
For instance, after the flood came Noah became a bit psycho after having to make the decision to only save his family. It was interesting to see that making a decision like that was hard and that may have been something that no one thought about. However, Noah’s decision drove him mad and it was hard to believe that a lot of what started to happen was taken from biblical scripture.
The director of the movie Noah, Darren Aronofsky, is known for producing disturbing films. He made a promise to create the least biblical, biblical movie ever and did just that. He made it apparent not to use the word “God” and instead replaced it with the word “creator”. Aronofsky is said to be an atheist and wanted to do something that someone would not dare to do.
Atheist or not, the depiction of the biblically based story in the movie Noah made an impact and had some definite thought provoking scenes. The movie had a really interesting and somewhat intriguing spin. Aronofsky did a great job in producing such a spin to leave the viewer with something to think about and possibly a debate. After all, isn’t that most some directors want to evoke?
In short, Noah was an interesting movie with great shots and graphics, however if you are looking for a straight forward depiction of the biblical story then this movie probably will not satisfy that need. Like any other movie that comes from a book or story, the book is better than the movie.
