Have you seen that Noah movie? The one that has Christians up in arms because it's not Biblical and liberals up in arms because everyone's white? No? Well, I think you should see it, and I'm about to tell you why.
*SPOILER ALERT*
Take a seat. Before you go see this movie, you should
probably think through a few things. For
example, who made it? The world's finest
Old Testament scholars and archaeologists?
Nope. They call those
documentaries, and you can watch them on Netflix. Was it made by a conservative Christian indie
film company? Nope. Those aren't
usually big budget or well-made movies, and they certainly don't star
Russell Crowe and Emma Watson. Paramount
made this movie. You know, the same guys
who brought you Kung Fu Panda, Mission
Impossible, and Paranormal Activity.
Now, just so I know
you're a thinking sort of person, let me pose a fairly simple question. Why do you think Paramount made this
movie? I'll even throw in some multiple
choice options for you.
a.) To make money
b.) To make money
c.) To declare God's
sovereignty and undeserved faithfulness to mankind and tell the story of a man
who "walked with God"
d.) To make money
If you said C,
you're a bit naïve and should probably think about engaging with culture a
little more. If you answered anything
else, you're right. Companies make
decisions to please their stakeholders so the company, in turn, will make
money. Movie companies, though in the
arts industry, and can afford to take a few more risks than most companies, are
still driven by dollar signs.
Paramount wanted to
produce a movie about a story that would make them money. Now that we've established that, your
expectations for what this movie is like should be a little more reasonable. If you sit down at the closest Harkins
thinking you're about to see a movie about a fascinating story loosely based on
the life of Noah, you'll probably it.
*Spoiler alert* (I
know I already said it, but this is your last warning!)
Aside from the fact
that they made the Nephilim (Gen. 6) weird rock robot monsters,
Ham and Japheth
didn't take wives on the ark (Gen. 7),
Tubal-Cain was a stowaway,
they have the serpent's magic snakeskin from Eden,
Noah tries to kill his twin granddaughters,
and Noah actually got a week's warning before the rain came (Gen. 7),
the story line is pretty spot on.
They take two kinds
of liberties with the plot. They take
obviously non-Biblical liberties, and they take reasonable artistic liberties
that just aren't included in the Genesis account. Most of these artistic liberties are
tastefully taken and lend themselves to helping people put a story in context
and give flesh and bones to an ancient text.
(Remember, most people know next to nothing about the book of Genesis,
much less antediluvian cultures.)
The character
Tubal-Cain (Ray Winstone), for example, was the real great-great grandson of Cain. It doesn't say much about him, except that
"he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron" and that
his father is quoted as saying "I have killed a man for wounding me, a
young man for striking me. If Cain's
revenge Is sevenfold, then Lamech's is seventy-sevenfold." (Gen. 4) It's not much of a stretch to cast
Tubal-Cain, then, as a violent, nasty, armor-clad chieftain. 
As much as I loathe
Tubal-Cain for all his barbaric villainy, I love Noah's wife (Jennifer Connelly) for her grit and
grace. Surprisingly, her character is
that of a submissive wife in all points but one (in which I agree with her,
ha). I use the word submissive, but
don't for a second picture a wan, withdrawn sort of waif wife. The woman takes care of three sons and a
husband, ok? She follows Noah on a cross
country trek (Iceland, actually) because she trusts that he is obeying God's
call. She works on building a giant ark. She never undermines his work or his
faith. She holds him together when his
task threatens to overwhelm him. She
forgives him when he's been an idiot. In
short, she's a boss. And she has awesome
hair. And she likes to garden.
One dialogue that I
did not anticipate was that conversation between Noah and his wife during the
building of the ark where they wrestle with the duality of the total depravity
of humanity (Rom. 3) and being created in the image of the Creator (Gen. 9). Noah's wife argues that their sons are men of
integrity and selflessness, while Noah counters that their motives and
motivations are crooked, regardless of their actions. The producers handled it in a way that
concludes men are basically evil (surprising, right?).
Another idea the
characters wrestle with is that of justice and mercy. It is just to destroy the world because men
have wrought havoc on creation, killed stuff, broken the careful balance of
order, and have abandoned their worship of the Creator, except Noah and his family. Evil must be dealt with in some way (foreshadowing for a Savior King). That's clear enough when
Tubal-Cain's army of brutes is feasting on raw flesh and dragging away women
and children as items of trade. (Side note, their treatment of evil is
poignantly destructive and dark.) It
becomes a bit muddier when the ark is surrounded by shrieks for mercy from
these same people.
Plot twists, weird rock men, and pulsing forbidden fruit aside, most movies end with either a comfortable resolution that tells us how things should be or leaves us with a question to answer. Noah is no different. The question producers leave us with, however intentionally is What will you do with the call?
Throughout the movie, Noah is reminded that his birthright and calling
is to steward creation and be fruitful and multiply. Sure there are some secular undertones there
(evolution time lapse video, anyone?), but the focus is on the birthright of humankind. We have been tasked with caring for the land and what inhabits it (or what will soon inhabit it - even the
unborn). We are called to create and be
fruitful and work.
This is a general
task to humanity, but as people who love and obey Jesus, we have an additional
call from the Creator. Go make disciples. Go take care of people and things. Go be fruitful and multiply on a spiritual
level. Make sure that people know My
story and that My love for them is deeper than their sin and wider than their
despair.
-Little Miss
Sunshine
We have been entrusted with a task much greater than
our desires. - Noah
Thank you, Summit Ministries, for teaching me how to think about the arts through the lens of
worldview.
If you're interested in reading more about the idea of calling, read The Call by Os Guinness; it's fantastic.
