Darren Aronofsky has shifted genres throughout his career. His recent film, Caught Stealing, is a fast-paced crime thriller, but he started with the psychological drama Pi and has dabbled in allegory, drama, and fantasy. But he took one of his biggest swings with 2014's Noah, his highest-grossing film and a biblical epic that left some of the faithful scratching their heads. Starring Russell Crowe as the titular boatbuilder, the film is a dark and harrowing twist on a tale that's traditionally been presented as a kids' story. It's one of the few Bible-based movies to grapple seriously with the text and examine its themes of genocide and rebirth, making it both a faithful telling of the story and an imaginative, compelling drama.
What Is 'Noah' About?
The story of Noah and the ark is popular with kids. It's told in Sunday School, frequently found in picture books, and decorations of smiling animals walking into the ark two by two can be found in nurseries all around the world. And yet, these four chapters of the Book of Genesis are stark, harrowing, and disturbing. It's a story of a God so dismayed with humanity that he vows to drown every living thing except for Noah and his floating zoo. It's not a children's story; it's a story of genocide. It's that bleakness that makes Aronofsky such a perfect fit. He's a director who isn't afraid of stories of suffering -- his first big-budget film, The Fountain, is a visually audacious and bizarre story about death, and Black Swan uses the world of ballet to weave a tale of obsession, competition, and sexuality. Noah might be a PG-13 Bible epic, but it's not going to be shown in Sunday School.
Aronofsky isn't interested in catering to the faith-based crowd. Rather, Russell Crowe's Noah is convinced that the watery end of all life is God's judgment and that when all is said and done, not even he and his family will be spared. The film's final act finds Noah thinking he failed his mission when his son's wife, played by Emma Watson, conceives twins; Noah spends much of the back half trying to kill the babies and end the human race; after the floodwaters subside, he becomes a drunken shell of a man until he realizes this wasn't a story of damnation but of restoration. It's not often that a big-budget epic tackles issues of faith, obsession, and divine judgment, and even if Noah isn't Aronofsky's best film, it's still worth a look because of how seriously it grapples with a text that's been treated flippantly.
'Noah' Is a Work of Theological Imagination
That's not to say Aronofsky's film is a work of grand fidelity to the Bible story -- how could it be, when stretching four chapters into two hours? Aronofsky takes liberties with the biblical accounts. Methuselah, played by Anthony Hopkins, was Noah's grandfather, according to the Bible, and lived to a ripe old age, but there's no mention of him counseling Noah in the days before the flood. And while there is a figure named Tubal-Cain mentioned in Genesis 4, who worked with bronze and iron, there's no mention of him being a bloodthirsty king, as played by Ray Winstone, or going to war with Noah. And Aronofsky's film includes giant rock monsters who roam the landscape and angels who intervened in human affairs and were cursed to live on Earth. These Watchers appear to be a reference to the Nephilim, which are mentioned in Genesis 6, but descriptions of who or what they are is vague; Aronofsky is actually pulling from the Jewish Book of Enoch for this depiction of the Watchers, angels who observed the affairs of humans.
This departure from the biblical text, along with the movie's refusal to be cuddly and family-friendly, is what upset several conservative Christian groups upon the film's release. And while Aronofsky's film departs from the text, it's thematically faithful. Aronofsky uses the four chapters as a jumping-off point to talk about men's propensity for violence and cruelty and our failure to take care of the planet -- a topic he'd explore in even more veiled terms in his next film, Mother! He engages a theological imagination to explore concepts of judgment and environmental catastrophe before bringing it around to a story of hope.
Noah was controversial because its engagement with the text takes it to uncomfortable places. But Aronofsky also captures moments of hope and beauty, such as when Noah tells his family the creation story they were born into, a moment that mixes biblical mythology with Terrence Malick-inspired imagery. And the film ends not with devastation, but uplift -- a rarity for an Aronofsky film, which often ends with his characters' death or debasement or sits ambiguous. The same beauty and grace that have drawn generations to the Noah account are present, and they hit even harder because of the darkness that preceded it.
'Noah' Was Aronofsky's Last Mainstream Film for a While
Noah was a hit. The film was the first of Aronofsky's films to open at the top of the box office charts and, at the time, Russell Crowe's biggest opening weekend. It was a hit, despite -- or, perhaps, because of - its controversy. Aronofsky may have left the ark behind, but Noah remains one of his boldest experiments -- a studio epic that dared to treat scripture as serious drama rather than sentimental myth. Eleven years later, it still stands as proof that he's willing to risk controversy in pursuit of meaning. Whether Caught Stealing signals a lighter long-term turn or just a brief detour, audiences can expect that Aronofsky will continue to push familiar stories into uncomfortable, unforgettable territory.
Your Rating close 10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Rate Now 0/10 Like Noah PG-13 Drama Action Adventure 8.0/10 Release Date March 28, 2014 Runtime 138 Minutes Director Darren Aronofsky Cast See All Russell Crowe Jennifer Connelly Where to watch Close WHERE TO WATCH Streaming RENT BUY
Writers Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel Powered by Expand Collapse