I have no great knowledge of the bible, so I can’t speak to the accuracy
of the events in Noah, but I can
imagine some things, were embellished, heightened or just plain added into make
this one of the most interesting biblical epics in a long time.
I realise,
that Noah has come under some flack in a variety of circles, mainly
religious groups, either because of depiction, story or that they show Noah
himself, a prophet. Something that certain religions take offence to. Before
going to see it, you really need to push all of this out of your mind and take
the film on its own merits and adaptation of the story. As essentially it is an
adaptation, yes of a sacred tale,
but this is Darren Aronofsky and Ari Handels (co-writer) take on this most
memorable story.
Noah is Aronosky’s sixth feature film and bar 2006’s The Fountain his
most ambitious and visually arresting. It follows more in the vein of The
Fountain, than his other works, which have been more grounded and intimate
stories such as Pi or The Wrestler, in that it is a story told on
a grand scale, befitting the original story.
The film
follows Noah and his family, after he receives
a message in a dream where the Creator tells him that
there is going to be a great flood to wash away all of the wicked and evil
people in the world. Most of us will have heard the story, or at least be
familiar enough with it, but Aronofsky does offer up a few surprises along the
way.
Russell Crowe
is kind of the go to man for historical epics as he is able to bring a weight
and believability to the role and considering how well known this man/character
is, the film needed a actor to invest in. The Noah we are given here, is very
much a man suffering under the weight of the task given to him as well as the
apparent contradictions that come with it. All of this is slowly and
brilliantly portrayed by Crowe as Noah’s beliefs and understanding are
constantly under attack, leading him to make a terrible promise to his son, Shem and his wife, Ela.
Noah looks stunning from first shot to last
shot. While some of the big ark scenes are completely computer generated, they
still hold up next to the rest of the cinematography by Matthew Libatique. The Watchers (fallen angels appearing as rock creatures) and especially the
growth of a river sequence is probably my favourite in the film.
The siege of
the ark sequence, which comes around half way through, is up there with the
great modern action scenes of its kind,
a much shorter Helm’s Deep. It feels dirty and frantic as the rest of the world
(seemingly) battles to get onto the ark as the rain begins to fall.
Artistic
licence has undoubtedly been taken with original story, the rock giants and
Cain’s people I believe, aren’t mentioned in it. But to me at least, they bring
more to the film than they take away. It adds a grand scale to the story and
also a more personal/idea edge to it.
If I were to
have a complaint about the film, it would be that it could have done with being
five to ten minutes shorter. But while there is no one sequence or scene that
stands out, towards the end some people in the cinema, most notably the man
next to me, were starting to huff and puff and move about in his seat.
You will have
heard bad things about it the film, but don’t believe them. I heard one radio
personality refer to the rock creatures as Transformers, a statement so
laughable I looked down my car radio in disbelief.
While it may
not adhere strictly to the bible story
itself, it is no doubt a sweeping, entertaining and engaging cinematic
experience. It needs to be seen on the big screen.
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Writers: Darren Aronofsky and Ari Handel.
