Anybody else seen this yet? I thought it was a somewhat uneven movie, yet ultimately satisfying inasmuch as a great deal of the film revolved around the increasing fanaticism of Noah (who was very well acted by Russell Crowe). Some LotR-type elements involving the Nephilim/Watchers felt out of place, almost absurdly so; but on the whole Noah provides a grim and involving tale that raises significant questions of justice and mercy, of what constitutes good and evil in the human condition.
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Love. Forgive. Trust. Be willing to be broken that you may be remade.
I get really tired of all the environmentalist/anti-industrial propaganda out of Hollywood and I thought this was yet another example of that. Do you think that's reading too much into it, or is that about accurate?
I get really tired of all the environmentalist/anti-industrial propaganda out of Hollywood and I thought this was yet another example of that. Do you think that's reading too much into it, or is that about accurate?
I think it's probably close to that; although an environmental consciousness is truer to the source material than, say, the inclusion of the Watchers. For example, in one of the Bible's two intertwined Flood narratives, people are forbidden to eat meat until after the Flood (and so it's safe to assume that the wicked people of the world were already doing that forbidden thing, whereas righteous Noah would've abstained).
In fact there's a lot of stuff in the Bible that could be read as sort of proto-environmentalist thinking. For example, observance of the Sabbath Year required Israelites to allow fields to lay fallow once every seven years (Exodus 23:11; Leviticus 25:1-6). In many places, desolation of the land is connected to human wickedness (Lev. 18:28; 26:34,35). Then too there are verses like this:
"When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees people, that you should besiege them?" (Deuteronomy 20:19)
All in all, a holistic respect for Creation should be a trademark of faithful Christians and Jews; and I think that's more of what Noah was getting at than just a heavy handed "OMG INDUSTRY BAD!" sort of sentiment. But then, I can't get inside the director's head so I can't say for sure.
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Havent seen the movie yet, but if MovieBob is right this is perhaps the closest we have gotten to the old school bible movies in a long time (honestly the old bible movies where rather awesome).
Also the watchers may make more sense in that this is more loosely based on the more obscure books (book of enoch for example), than on the more sanitized versions we have in current print today.
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I was at first very repelled by the Watchers, but as the film went on, and more specifically, when they started to strip trees like thyme sprigs; I started to like them.
That fast-cut Creation scene though.
My actual biggest problem with the film, was the font choice by Aronofsky, which rotted in my brain from the introduction on, which I also felt was unnecessary; I felt the film would've succeeded more in line with Aronofsky's stylistic ideals and a film as a whole if he had simply left the blurbs of introductory text and let the images of the Garden of Eden/Cain & Abel exist independently. The film would've tied up any questions anyways, at least with a competent viewer it would.
I get really tired of all the environmentalist/anti-industrial propaganda out of Hollywood and I thought this was yet another example of that. Do you think that's reading too much into it, or is that about accurate?
It certainly started off that way, but that theme faded off in favor of the deeper personal, deontological, and teleological issues in the second and third acts. If anything, it's one of the movie's weaknesses that there's an early plot element that doesn't really go anywhere.
And the character of Tubal-Cain is no strawman. A lot of his lines are clearly meant to ring true, even if he draws the wrong conclusions from them (or does he?). According to Genesis, God really did create humankind in his own image, give them dominion over the beasts, and curse them to survive by the sweat of their brows. So whatever the movie is trying to say about industry, it's more nuanced than "industry bad!"
I think it's probably close to that; although an environmental consciousness is truer to the source material than, say, the inclusion of the Watchers. For example, in one of the Bible's two intertwined Flood narratives, people are forbidden to eat meat until after the Flood (and so it's safe to assume that the wicked people of the world were already doing that forbidden thing, whereas righteous Noah would've abstained).
In the other narrative, though, Noah also makes animal sacrifices to God, so there's something of a mixed message on animal welfare. I am inclined to agree with you, though, that Gen 9:1-5 is why that theme is in the movie.
I think it's probably close to that; although an environmental consciousness is truer to the source material than, say, the inclusion of the Watchers. For example, in one of the Bible's two intertwined Flood narratives, people are forbidden to eat meat until after the Flood (and so it's safe to assume that the wicked people of the world were already doing that forbidden thing, whereas righteous Noah would've abstained).
In fact there's a lot of stuff in the Bible that could be read as sort of proto-environmentalist thinking. For example, observance of the Sabbath Year required Israelites to allow fields to lay fallow once every seven years (Exodus 23:11; Leviticus 25:1-6). In many places, desolation of the land is connected to human wickedness (Lev. 18:28; 26:34,35). Then too there are verses like this:
"When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees people, that you should besiege them?" (Deuteronomy 20:19)
All in all, a holistic respect for Creation should be a trademark of faithful Christians and Jews; and I think that's more of what Noah was getting at than just a heavy handed "OMG INDUSTRY BAD!" sort of sentiment. But then, I can't get inside the director's head so I can't say for sure.
Also the watchers may make more sense in that this is more loosely based on the more obscure books (book of enoch for example), than on the more sanitized versions we have in current print today.
That fast-cut Creation scene though.
My actual biggest problem with the film, was the font choice by Aronofsky, which rotted in my brain from the introduction on, which I also felt was unnecessary; I felt the film would've succeeded more in line with Aronofsky's stylistic ideals and a film as a whole if he had simply left the blurbs of introductory text and let the images of the Garden of Eden/Cain & Abel exist independently. The film would've tied up any questions anyways, at least with a competent viewer it would.
And the character of Tubal-Cain is no strawman. A lot of his lines are clearly meant to ring true, even if he draws the wrong conclusions from them (or does he?). According to Genesis, God really did create humankind in his own image, give them dominion over the beasts, and curse them to survive by the sweat of their brows. So whatever the movie is trying to say about industry, it's more nuanced than "industry bad!"
In the other narrative, though, Noah also makes animal sacrifices to God, so there's something of a mixed message on animal welfare. I am inclined to agree with you, though, that Gen 9:1-5 is why that theme is in the movie.
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
I watched a movie that tried wayyyy to hard to be "dark" and "edgy" with a tired Russel Crowe at the helm.
Don't even get me started at the laughably bad attempts to capture the fantasy audience. Just all in all really didn't like this one.
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