Friday, June 6, 2014

Noah: The Wrong Outlook

             When I first heard that the story of Noah was being brought to the big screen, I thought it wasn't worth my time, so I ignored it. My interest was piqued, however, when I learned that Father Robert Barron had made a review of the film. After watching the review, my interest was high enough that I decided to watch Noah when I had the chance. I had that chance this past Wednesday.
             Although I walked into the theater knowing that the film was significantly different from the biblical account, I was prepared to be open-minded. So I sat down to be drawn into the story and to learn what I could from it.
             There was indeed much in the story that strayed quite far from the book of Genesis. A few of the deviations were intriguing, if not necessarily right, while some of the others changed the theme of the story. I would like to dwell on one point in particular. (Mind you, this is a spoiler, so watch the movie before you read the rest!)
             In Genesis, after God has told Noah to build the ark, he says to him, "For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. (Genesis 6:17-18) Then he gives instructions for bringing the animals into the ark. According to this passage, it is God's express intention to save Noah and his family in the ark, so that he might establish His covenant with Noah. He is about to make a family bond between Himself and Noah's family. In addition, He wants to save the rest of the animal kingdom. This is what the story is about.
             The movie Noah presents a very different picture from the one just described. No mention is given to God's covenant with Noah. In fact, the film mostly focuses on saving the beasts, not on saving the human race, because the beasts are innocent, while Noah believes that man is so depraved that he is being allowed to die off. God never tells Noah whether it was ever his intent to save man at all. He lets Noah decide the question for himself (though in the end, Noah does choose life).
              Stress is laid on the inheritance of Seth, and the passing on of that inheritance from Seth all the way down to Noah, and finally to his sons. But the covenant between God and Noah, which is so important in scripture, gets no attention at all. Yes, there is a cool rainbow  special effect at the end of the movie, but it is taken out of context. In the scene just mentioned, Noah had passed on his inheritance to his children, and he (not God) had told them to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it. God's part in Noah's family is totally ignored.
              So despite the cool special effects, and some interesting twists in the plot that made me look at the Bible in a whole new way, the movie completely failed to bring across one all important fact: God wanted man to be part of His own family. He drew them to himself and even made them his own flesh and blood. In contrast, the God in the movie does not have any such friendship with Noah and his family. The God in the film does commission Noah to build an ark, but He is not the friend of Noah that he is in scripture. The point of the story was completely changed.