Paramount’s ‘Noah’ Faces Both Criticism and Support
When I first say the trailer for the upcoming move, 'Noah' featuring Russell Crowe, I was taken back by it's scale. It looks to be epic... as it should be. The story of Noah and the Ark is arguably one of most well known stories of the Old Testament.
My second thought was... "Here we go... There are going to be some people out there who are not going to be happy with this movie.
When it comes to telling the story of Noah in a cinematic version, you are faced with not only the gravity of the story itself but also the challenge of developing characters with little information without stepping on the theology.
When we think about the story we learned as children, most of us probably think about the warm and fuzzy version about the man who swoops in to save all of the little critters when the planet is faced with destruction by flood. In reality, the story of Noah is a very serious and at times dark story about sin, God's wrath and ultimately, God's grace.
The biblical text of Noah doesn't contain a ton of detail about the characters. In order to pull off a compelling theatrical version, the producers and directors are charged with "filling in the blanks" when it comes to creating a personality behind Noah and his family. You cannot make a movie about a story like this without taking significant creative licence. In doing so, there's bound to be some theological division among the scholars.
There are some who believe that you cannot take any creative licence with a biblical story and if you're going to tell it, you should simply stick with the text.
I'm not sure I agree with that wholeheartedly. While I strongly agree that you cannot take a story from the bible and alter it to suit your own agenda, I do believe it's possible to to take artistic licence in the story telling as long as GREAT care is taken to not mar the core truths of the text.
It's too for me to formulate an opinion of any substance because I haven't seen the movie but I am encouraged by the the movie's disclaimer. You can and see for yourself on the film's official website.
The film is inspired by the story of Noah. While artistic license has been taken, we believe that this film is true to the essence, values, and integrity of a story that is a cornerstone of faith for millions of people worldwide. The biblical story of Noah can be found in the book of Genesis.
Here is Paramount's explanatory video that features comments from faith leaders and a look behind the scenes that follows the inspiration and the challenges Paramount faced when dealing with the line between creative licence and sacred text.
I'm quite excited about 'Noah' and I'm gonig this weekend. If you go, be sure to comment and let me what you think of it.
via The Blaze
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