Noah

(Darren Aronofsky, 2014, USA)

Biblical films generally follow the letter of their source text pretty closely – think The Ten Commandments or The Passion of the Christ or any of the other myriad ecclesiastical films over the years. The reasons for this should be obvious: the Bible is viewed as a sacred book by two of the world’s major religions, with its stories read as both metaphorical works of morality and actual documentation of human history. Thus, cinematic adaptations of The Holy Book’s innumerable tales come with an inherent obligation to satisfy faithful Christian audiences by not diverging too significantly from The Holy Scriptures; however, these movies must also succeed as modern pieces of art and entertainment, and, as such, are bound to modern notions of narrative, character, and theme. It’s a tricky balancing act to pull off, especially when it comes to some of the more beloved and renowned Biblical tales.

One of these hallowed stories comes to cinematic life with Darren Aronofsky’s Noah, a veritable blockbuster based upon the tale of Noah’s Ark found in the Book of Genesis. Make no mistake, though: although adapted from one of the most recognizable narratives in the Old Testament, if not the entire canon of human literature, this is not a religious film on the order of those mentioned above. Aronofsky, who was raised culturally Jewish but now identifies as more generally spiritual, realizes the aforementioned balancing act required to adapt a canonical Biblical story for modern audiences, and takes somewhat of an all-encompassing approach to the material. While following Holy Scripture in detailing some of the finer points of the narrative, the director also embraces science, more specifically biology and ecology, in depicting the broader strokes, resulting in a largely inoffensive, have-it-both-ways work. Due to the potentially volatile nature of any religious subject matter, this was likely the wisest option.