Is Noah all wet? Thoughts on the new movie.

The new Noah movie will undoubtedly upset a variety of Christian because it takes liberty with the text of Genesis by adding some things to fill out the story, and because it changes some things in order to further the plot.  The questions surrounding this movie are similar in many ways to those faced by devoted fans of J.R.R. Tolkien who had to decide if they still liked Peter Jackson’s movies despite the changes he made to the story from the books.  I can understand those who cannot see past the changes to evaluate the movie on its own merit, in both cases, but it would be a mistake not to evaluate this version of the story by its own merits.

            What is the purpose of a movie?  Is it to be a copy of the original source material, be it a book or historical event, or is it to be an interpretation of that source material in its own right?  Movie makers, like novelists, poets, and historians, pick and choose what they wish to emphasize and how they present the material they work with.  When the source material is a beloved novel, historically significant event, or in this case, Sacred Scripture, most viewers are willing to give the writer/director/producer a lot less slack than they would if the material that the movie was derived from is unknown.

            The story of Noah in Genesis, word for word, would not make a good movie.  There isn’t enough material there to fill out a whole movie, and there certainly isn’t enough dialogue.  If you look closely at the account of Noah, the only one talking is God; Noah doesn’t say a word until he wakes up from his drunken stupor to curse his youngest son.  How is a movie, or play, or novel, based upon the life of Noah supposed to portray him if we have no idea what he was thinking or what he said.  In Genesis we’re told that Noah did what the LORD commanded him, but virtually nothing else beyond the background information that he was “a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.”  We have absolutely nothing from Genesis about Noah’s wife, his sons, or his daughters-in-law.  In order to turn this story into other medium, things are going to have to be added to the account that we have.  There will be some who disagree with the choices that this particular film makes in that process, but the process is inevitable.  If the most reputable evangelical icon were to make a Noah movie he would have to do the same thing.

            There are also three types of “Christian” movies: those that preach to the choir and tell us the things we already think, feel, and believe; those aimed at Church goers, but designed to challenge us and make us think; and those aimed at the un-churched with the hopes of inspiring them to consider God.  The recent movie, God’s Not Dead is primarily one of the first types; its focus is almost entirely on the choir, with some hopes of speaking to the un-churched, although as I said in my earlier blog post, I think they misfired on that goal.  Noah is a combination of the second two types.  It is designed to make those who already know the story from Sunday school think, and it is likely to cause those who have no idea who Noah was to wonder about God.  If Christians who were hoping that Noah was going to be a message to the choir can let go of that hope and see it on the other two levels, much of their disappointment or anger should be dissipated.

            The “Watchers” in Noah will certainly raise some eyebrows, they reminded me of the Ents in LOTRO, but are actually supposed to be the Nephilim of Genesis 6:4, a term that our English Bibles either translates as “giants” or simply leaves as Nephilim because we have no real idea who/what they were.  That Noah turns them into partially-fallen angels, an idea picked up from the Apocryphal book of Enoch, shouldn’t be viewed harshly when and minister is going to skip this verse when talking about Noah because he has no idea what it means either.

            There will be some people bothered by the environmentalism they see in the movie.  To that I respond that it is sad that evangelicals have allowed politics to turn them against their Biblical mandate to be stewards of the Earth, and have allowed American consumerism to blind them to the living conditions of the poorest on our world that often resemble the Mad Max like conditions portrayed in the movie.  There is a reason why the end of Revelation contains a new heaven and a new earth.

            There will be some who are bothered that the Creation account in the movie, which I found to be visually very beautiful, looked like theistic evolution because there was a clear passage of much time while Noah was talking about each “day”.  Rather than rehash that issue here, let me just point out that it was clear in the movie that God made humanity separate and different, in his own image, and that God was clearly portrayed as the sole maker of all things in the universe, life included.

            The subplot of Noah thinking that God wants him to end the human race raises important theological questions: How does God communicate with man?  How do we know is God is talking to us?  We tend to assume that the heroes of the Bible knew exactly what God wanted of them, all the time, without any doubt, but that is of course not in keeping with our own experience and not a genuine reading of the Bible anyway.

The second question it raises is on that the Bible itself will answer, but only over time.  That question is this: Is there value in each human life?  Is humanity worth saving?  God makes it clear over time, through Abraham’s experience with being asked to sacrifice Isaac, with Moses’ mother protecting him from death, etc. that God cares about human life, and it answers that ultimate value of humanity to God through the promises that God will send a Messiah to redeem humanity, something the New Testament expresses fully.  Was Noah worried that humanity was too far gone to be saved?  I have no idea, the text of Genesis doesn’t tell us anything about what Noah thought, but having lived amongst such violence and wickedness, wouldn’t it be normal to at least think that thought?  If Noah in the movie goes further than you think he should have down that line of reasoning, chalk it up to cinematic suspense building, but don’t dismiss the whole question.  We live in a world where human life is cheap; abortion and euthanasia are but the surface of the problem of devalued human life.  We live after a century in which more than 100 million people were murdered by three separate societies at the hands of three separate dictators during the same generation.  If God could be grieved enough at the behavior of the people of Israel while Moses was on Mt. Sinai that he wanted to wipe them out, then surely Noah could be worried that the humanity of his day was no better and deserved no less.

            There is also a conversation between Noah and his wife in the movie that contains a truth that both Judaism and Christianity would agree with.  She contends that her sons and future grandchildren deserve to live because they aren’t like the people God decided to destroy with the flood.  Noah responds to this by telling her that we aren’t any better.  The people of Israel were holy because God called them out, not because they were better than the Gentiles.  Christians are better because God has saved and cleansed us, not because we were less sinful than the non-repentant. 

            Overall, for those looking to watch a version of the Noah story that is word for word from the Bible, you’ll be disappointed.  For those looking to see a story that contains a God who created the world, including mankind in his image, that cares about that world and is upset enough by the sin committed by humanity to do something about it; you’ll at least by provoked to thinking by Noah even if you don’t enjoy it.  When is the last time someone who doesn’t go to church asked you, “Does God really care that much about sin?”  Or, “Does God care about what’s going on down here?”  If Noah prompts them to do that, isn’t that the perfect opening to share the Good News that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world?

P.S.  I can tell by many of the online reviews of the movie that many Christians will be veiwing this film through their own political lense, they'll probably chalk this up as an attempt to ruin "our Bible".  The Church isn't a political party, where we get the choice to throw out those we don't like, where we can lose elections (i.e. turn people off to God) on principle and celebrate it.  In case you're wondering, lots of non-believers hated "God's Not Dead" while Christians swooned over it.  Is that the only kind of movie we want to see, one that we like, but that ticks off non-Christians?  Or is there room for a message, even a misguided one, that might open the eyes of those living in darkness?

To read a helpful article about this movie byRev. Robert Barron, click on the link below:
Noah film review