NOAH

Kudos to Darren Aronofsky, Russell Crowe, and Jennifer Connelly for doing this film. I had taken it out over the holidays as an option to watch after New Year's (Dora won for the family movie, and although I would have preferred to watch the 3rd Jumanji movie out in theatres, it was perfect for family viewing, and quite a bit funnier than I had expected! For a 13 year old girl who finds theatres too loud,  animated films like Inside, Out and Guerre des Tuques too sad, it was the perfect adventure movie), and I was faced yet again with the dilemma of returning it the day it was due with or without watching it. I had spent 24 hours putting away Christmas stuff, and had the mindless task left of returning ornaments and the artificial to the three boxes left, so I decided to close the curtain that morning and watch Noah.

The beginning was word for word from Genesis, and I was hopeful. Then came the Watchers, these strange lumbering beasts of cooling lava, and I despaired. Instead of turning it off, I dug out a bible, which was my childhood Bible called The Children's Living Bible, and instead of Nephilim, (the Fallen: sons of God and daughters of men (a man, Adam), demigods before the Greeks even existed, and echoing of Narnian royalty, if an echo can reverse course) who I thought of as giant humans, I read this:

Genesis 6:4

In those days, and even afterwards, when the evil beings from the spirit world were sexually involved with human women, their children became giants, of who so many legends are told.

After accepting that I had no idea what legends these were, I continued to watch the movie, that outlined righteousness, stewardship, and challenged the version of this incredible story that I had read, but was faithful to it at the same time.

It was monochromatic genius; meta in its apocalyptic predating the apocalypse. It was crafted with love by a self-proclaimed atheist, and tells the story in such legendary tones that I am still digesting it today, 48 hours after I returned the DVD to the library after-hours dropoff. Whether you believe the flood was a fable or history, this film is worth watching, for those of us who love the story, but also for those of us who have never heard it before.