‘Black Swan’ director combines biblical epic and disaster film
Hollywood took a wild gamble giving Darren Aronofsky (“Requiem for a Dream,” “The Wrestler,” “Black Swan”) more than $125 million to put his strange take on the biblical story of Noah on the big screen.
His film certainly expands upon the Bible. Anyone would have to, since the original text in the Old Testament is only a few paragraphs long. Noah does not even have any dialogue.
Noah (Oscar winner Russell Crowe) devotes his life to serving God by being just and respecting every inhabitant on Earth, be it human, plant or animal. His wife, Naameh (Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly), loyally supports her God and her husband while remaining a strong woman and mother. They have three children by birth: Shem (Douglas Booth), Ham (Logan Lerman) and Japheth (Leo McHugh Carroll).
The familiar aspects of the story drive the film: Noah has a vision from God (thankfully not voiced or visualized) that commands him to build an ark and put on it two of every animal — one male, one female — because he will flood the Earth and destroy all life on its surface. Noah travels to the only family and friends he has, his ancient grandfather Methuselah (Oscar winner Anthony Hoskins).
While traveling through rocky terrain trying to consult with Methuselah, Noah and his family come across a vast field with many dead bodies and abandoned tents. The ramshackle area looks completely devoid of life, but they find a young injured girl named Ila (played in adulthood by Emma Watson). They raise her as if she is of their own blood.
Noah begins constructing the ark and assembling the pairs of animals in preparation for the flood. Besides the impending natural elements, Noah and his family run into conflict with Tubal-cain (Ray Winstone), a vicious, blood-thirsty brute leading a clan that pillages and murders throughout the land, a perfect example of why God wants to cleanse the planet.
Even after viewing the film, why Aronofsky interpreted the story of Noah is not clear. He throws a lot of ideas into his big-budget mix of biblical epic and disaster film with an environmental message, all presented through Aronofsky’s cinematic style.
There is fast editing, which he used before brilliantly in “Requiem for a Dream,” to represent the character’s drug addiction.
In “Noah,” the editing is used expertly to show both Noah’s anxiety about his task and an explanation of how the universe and the Earth were created, which incorporates elements of evolution and creationism.
The creation sequence is a rapid-fire succession of shots that resemble time-lapse footage, which is often used to condense the entire growth of a plant into mere seconds. There are shots of characters from behind their heads (even the doves get this signature shot) that were used before with Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” and Natalie Portman in “Black Swan.”
It gives a sense of realism and a documentary aesthetic. There are also horror and sci-fi elements that give Noah’s struggle and mission a mysterious, disturbing quality.
These cinematic choices are interspersed through a Roland Emmerich-style disaster film full of PG-13 thundering destruction and violence. The building of the ark, the assemblage of the animals and especially the flood are rousing and just plain exciting, all the more so in IMAX.
The trailers do not reveal the major difference between the source material and the film, the bizarre creations that help Noah build the ark and protect his family.
The idea behind their creation is more interesting than what they are. See the film and form your own opinion.
The commanding performances help a great deal to cement the frequently ludicrous story in reality. Their situation is not realistic, but Crowe and Connelly, who played a couple previously in “A Beautiful Mind,” provide a gravitas in the midst of outlandish circumstances.
Many of the actors have worked together or with the director before. Connelly was in Aronofsky’s “Requiem for a Dream,” and Lerman and Watson both appeared in “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.”
While not nearly on the level of his best work — “The Wrestler” being his crowning achievement thus far — “Noah” is a big Hollywood film that dares to be different: It is a reverent film about faith, although it is not entirely faithful to the biblical text.