Noah

Like all Aronofsky films, by the time the credits roll I just sort of have to sit in my chair unstirred, unsettled, sterile and amazed, awash with thoughts that I can barely connect. Paradoxically, I feel connected enough with the ancient mood of this story that it’s worth a try.

This was a profoundly human film. Brilliantly executed. It dispels the Sunday school, whitewash narrative that traditionalists like to tell, believing themselves to be in possession of the “mood,” while challenging us to make room for a much more nuanced, more complex and viscerally raw and emblematic story.

I appreciated its dauntless effort to show us a prophet wrestle with his maker, his mantle, his own conscience even. It does not shy from showing prophetic imperfection, yet equally does not embrace any sort of anti-religious skepticism. It is not even neutral in its approach. It is utterly, simplistically human—rife with beautiful ambiguity, rich paradoxes, and is uncompromising in its refusal for easy, clear-cut answers. 

While the faithful may see this as an interrogatory, flawed interpretation of how prophets communicate with the divine, setting up expectations for how they believe the process to unflinchingly work, it is my belief that good artists will often skillfully question and explore in depth our sacred narratives if only to challenge those of us who understand things too quickly, draw conclusions too easily, and believe ourselves to know sacred things without proving we’ve wrestled, like Jacob, with divine things. 

Those with a low tolerance for ambiguity and a rigid, unbending posture towards religiosity will probably not like this film. It brought to mind a talk I recently read by Bruce C. Hafen where he taught that “if we are not willing to grapple with the frustration that comes from facing bravely the uncertainties we encounter, we may never develop the kind of spiritual maturity that is necessary for our ultimate preparations” to serve more effectively in our community. This film raises more questions than it does answers, and sometimes that sort of humility is needed to combat a culture intoxicated on “knowing,” especially when “knowing” leads you to dangerously compromise, as Aronofksy shows, what is most important life.

I recommend this film for the spiritually inquisitive, truth-seeking type. 

(DMS)