Yesterday
we took the youth group to see Noah. Yes, we took the youth to see a movie
that none of us had seen before, but we did discuss it afterwards! I have to say, on the scale of accuracy
to the original—lowest accuracy being Cheaper
by the Dozen and highest accuracy within reason being Hunger Games: Catching Fire—Noah
was somewhere along the lines of Jim Carrey’s rendition of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Clearly there are not a lot of details in the biblical
narrative, so there had to be some major embellishments. They also did some things that were
just plain wrong. When all is said
and done, though, I enjoyed it and thought there was a lot of good to say about
it.
Disclaimer: I do not plan to tell you what was and was not biblical. Plenty of blogs are doing that right now. As one of my old English teachers said, "only write if you have something new to say." So, while all of my views and thoughts may not be new, here they are, for what they are worth.
SPOILERS: THE
REST OF THIS BLOG DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS FROM NOAH
Genesis 6:9 Noah was
a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.
Perhaps
one of the most uncomfortable things about the movie (besides all the dead
bodies and screaming people) was the portrayal of Noah. Raised on cartoons and Children’s Story
Bibles, we like to think of Noah as a perfect and sinless man who never
doubted. That, however, is not
realistic! In the Bible, Noah was
never portrayed as perfect. He was
portrayed as blameless compared to all those who lived lives of
wickedness. He walked with
God. He was righteous. One who is righteous is one who is
right with God. That doesn’t mean
they aren’t sinful. All humans
since Adam and Eve are sinful.
In
our culture, even as Christians, we don’t like to talk about sin. We don’t like to talk about what we do
or fail to do that is contrary to God’s will. In Noah, however, they did not shy away
from talk about sin. In fact, they
actively engaged the question of human nature. Are humans inherently good? Inherently bad?
In the movie, Noah realizes that all humans, even his family, are
sinful, part of the fallen human race.
He realizes that even his family and he himself deserve death. In the end, though, he comes to an
understanding of God’s grace.
Genesis 6:13-14 So
God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people…so make yourself an
ark of cypress wood…” Genesis 6:22
Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
God’s
calling isn’t always easy to follow or even to understand. Most of us understand this. How many of us have wondered if it is
God who is speaking to us? How
many of us have asked why it doesn’t seem like God talks enough? How many of us have wondered why God
seems silent in some circumstances?
In
the movie, Noah struggles with these questions. He struggles to understand what God’s calling means. He isn’t sure how to handle the
connection between God’s calling and human free will. He discovers that when he focuses more on his own humanity
than on God, he misunderstands God’s call. While there is no indication in the biblical account of Noah
having this kind of doubt and struggle, who is to say that he didn’t? Who among us has never wondered why God
called us and how God expects us to carry it out? Noah clearly isn’t perfect, even in the Bible, as is
evidenced by his one man college party (drunkenness and nakedness) after the
flood.
Genesis 1:1 In the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
One of my favorite themes in the
movie was the discussion of creation.
I was asked during the discussion with the youth group why they always
referred to God as “Creator.”
Honestly, it never phased me.
This close to creation, why wouldn’t they think of God primarily as
Creator? That is one of the
biggest roles God has played in the first part of Genesis. It also highlighted the connection
between Creation and the flood.
(An interlude: Even if you don’t see the movie, find a way to watch how
they depicted creation. I loved
it!). Throughout the movie, they
kept referring back to creation, Noah sits and tells the story to his family on
the ark, and they discussed many times that the flood was intended to wipe the
earth clean for a new creation.
Genesis 9:13 I have
set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between
me and the earth.
One
thing that actually did upset me was the end of the movie. After the flood, Noah did his drunken
naked binge, he repents and realizes his mistake, and THEN the rainbow comes. I understand that for movie purposes,
it is better to end on a dramatic and happy ending. I had to think about it for a while to figure out why it
bothered me. I finally realized
that this order of events bothers me because it suggests that the rainbow came
because of Noah’s repentance, not as an unconditional promise from God that the
earth would never be destroyed by a flood again (as the Bible tells).
---
All
in all, I thought it was a good movie.
I would recommend it (as long as you can handle some very
disturbing images and screams). Remember, it is Hollywood, it is entertainment, and it was not made by a theologian or biblical scholar. Do
not assume that everything is biblical, but you would be surprised how many
little biblical nuances there actually were! Find somebody to discuss it with, and don’t expect to like
everything. It is not
always be the most complimentary picture of God or of Noah, but also remember
that it wasn’t written by a theologian.
It was made by an atheist who is exploring through the movie some of the
ways the Bible and those who believe it understand God and calling.
So, what did you think?
