Religion and Hollywood don't mix with films like 'Noah'

Russel Crowe, actor plays Noah in film

Carol Forsloff---Faith groups have been critical about the film "Noah" and for good reason.  In many ways these religious films of Hollywood don't mix well with either the truth of faith or the values established by people who simply care about their planet and the people on it.  This latest Hollywood offering, "Noah,"despite its strong showing at the box office, is a film that both religious and non religious folks might question not just for its lack of accuracy but also its trite presentation and meandering script that in the end has little value except the visually dramatic action scenes.

"Noah" is a cross between the Transformers and "Water  World " in its disjointed theme and characters.  Like Water World, people are divided between the good and evil groups, with those condemned to wander the earth in the waters, since the earth was long since uninhabitable is a theme in both films.  In The Transformers films, big and powerful machines hold power over people.  In "Noah," they are represented by big and powerful wooden machines who, once they have fulfilled their purpose in helping Noah build the Ark, are swept up into the heavens to be with their Creator.

Jennifer Conelly, as Noah's wife, and Noah, played by Russel Crowe, maintain the same, earnest countenances as demonstrated by their characters in "A Beautiful Mind," only the mind of Noah is less beautiful than confused in the movie, at least in the script depiction of him.  Noah believes he and his family are the last people that God will allow following the flood and that after the waters recede only the animals will be left.  So he refuses to bring mates for his sons on board the Ark, and in fact allows Ham's beloved, whom he meets after fleeing his family for a time, to die as the evil ones try to climb aboard the Ark to keep from drowning when the floods come.  Those of faith, or without, would likely question why a man with such devout obedience to his Creator would see Him as a punishing, vengeful God and want to follow such a God in the first place.  It would seem incredible to the devout who believe God is love, that He would never forgive and therefore ask that innocent newborn babies be killed by one of his most devout servants, Noah, the grandfather of those children.

The Biblical accounts are taken in with so much liberty in the writing that they bear only an outline resemblance to the original story.  In fact at the end of the film, Noah reflects on new beginnings and speaks of the hope of that.   God's final message in the Bible story was that He would not create such a flood again, but allow man to make his own mistakes and bring about his own destruction.

In the "Noah" movie, good and evil are represented by Noah, prophet-seer, and Tubal-Cain, who bears the burden of his ancestor, Cain, who had been punished by God for killing his brother, Abel.  The concept of sin, as explained both in the Biblical account and the film, was initiated with the eating of the apple in paradise, but the true evil multiplied from the killing.  The result, in the film "Noah," is that two camps emerge in the world, the good people, who are Noah and his family, and the bad people, represented by Tubal-Cain and everyone else.  Noah has the distinction of being the only one God decides to save, as if evil was, and is, so extensive that all the good being removed from everyone and leaving only one man left whom God would find acceptable, seems unbelievable if it is to be seen as a just act of a loving God.  It would be, and often is, the kind of argument people use to refute religion in the first place, as something that represents more superstition than truth.

The action scenes in Noah are large and filled with color and intensity.  They mimic the Transformer films in majestic and mighty maneuvers by the evil-doers and the ugly, twisted, tree-like creatures in the "Noah" film.  Those seeking adventure will find it in a movie where that is the key ingredient, and the only one that offers real entertainment, as the values portrayed are disjointed and difficult to grasp in the combination of science fiction and faith represented in the film.

While some critics maintain the value of "Noah" lies in the questions it might offer, these are questions less implied by the script than in the mind of critics who seek to find some merit in the film, without panning it altogether.  Some say showing "Noah" as depicted in the Bible would simply have been boring, as there was not a great deal to the story, other than Noah's building of an Ark at the commandment of God and his being the one who offered safety to the animals so that there would continue to be life on earth.  On the other hand, the fact there are so many scientific and religious references to the great flood of the Bible, means the film could have met the Biblical account and the details that followed, including what happened to Noah when the floods had passed, and the issues surrounding his life and the generations forward.

Why is Noah relevant in history or religion?  The film does not give the viewer any yardstick by which to measure the man's greatness nor his contribution to man's ultimate salvation and survival.  Instead we see him as a man who misunderstands much of God's orders and who then falls into drunkenness when he disobeys those orders.  But nothing is done to build relevance to the character other than the determination the Ark be built and the end result of its completion and the saving of Noah, his family and the animals.  It is difficult to believe in Noah as a spiritual individual or hero, as his stubbornness and intractability, offer incredulity to all but the most hopeful critics.

The Daily Beast maintains the film is mythical for a reason, for the entertaining value of the movie.  But it has little value as entertainment if after watching the film, the audience goes out the door with puzzled looks, trying to make sense out of a film as opposed to enjoying it and/or finding it has relevance.  Instead it becomes like the piece of art in a museum where people exclaim "how wonderful" in front of abstract lines that meander over canvas when in any other context they would think the painting was done by a neighborhood third-grader learning to draw for the first time.

"Noah" may end up being the film of the year, but it is no match for the Ten Commandments and Ben Hur, other films about religious and spiritual figures that have stood the test of time.  And whereas Russel Crowe has the film presence and biceps of the famous Charleston Heston, the strength of Crowe's muscular good looks is not enough to save the film from being just another Hollywood effort to confuse and confound the viewing public.