Film Review- Noah

Starting with a prologue of the events of a young Noah's right of passage from a boy to a man the viewer is introduced to a world that humans have taken only 10 generations after Adam and Eve to destroy.  The human race are sinful, constantly breaking the commandments and fully embracing the 7 deadly sins.  The Creator does not see any hope for humanity and comes to Noah in a dream foreshadowing a great flood that will cleans the earth in order to start again.  Noah is given the task to gather all of the animals and along with his family build a vessel in order to survive the storm while the misguided, impure and wretched all perish in the food.

Director Darren Aronofsky keeps the story pretty close to the subject matter. The piece does add a few characters for dramatic effect but the overall story is true to the source material. Aranofsky and co writer Ari Handel use informative short vignettes to cover the main events from In the Beginning right up to the activities of Cain's descendants.

The visual effects department work stands out in the piece. The segment that launches the path to building the Arc is breathtaking. The screen fills with rich blues and lush greens followed seamlessly with a brilliant transition centred on Noah's kids to show quickly show the passage of time during the construction of the Arc.

The other senses filling scene is the section where Noah heads to the camp of his rival Tubal-Cain (Ray Winstone) The camp is full of the worst of society attacking each other for food, sacrificing their young for animal flesh and performing horrific acts of violence upon each other.  It's at that point that Noah decides that there is no future for humanity and his mission his is to save the animals and his youngest son Japheth ( Leo McHugh Carroll) will be the last man standing.

Noah is a tour of human nature that the writers aim to show has implications today. The baseness of society. The lust after animal flesh among other things for nourishment and to get stronger. The destruction of the environment and the earth itself by Man's ongoing industrial activities and pursuits.   Is Society worth saving or should it be cleansed to start over or to wipe out mankind and let the animals reclaim the earth?

** 1/2 Out of 4.

Noah | Darren Aronofsky | U.S.A. |2014| 138 Minutes.

Tags: Bible, Old Testament, Flood, Good vs Evil, The Earth, The Creator, Prophecy, Miracle, Sin, rebirth, Starting over.