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
