Should You See The Movie NOAH Starring Russell Crowe?

Naturally, my wife and I were excited when we saw that one of my favorite actors, Russell Crowe, was starring in a movie about my namesake, Noah.

So we took the whole family to opening night…

Any movie with a Biblical theme is going to generate plenty of controversy these days. And NOAH is no exception.

Interestingly, story of Noah in the Bible is actually quite short – just four chapters, most of which deal with building the ark and gathering the animals.

In the movie NOAH, we see the back story of how Noah’s father was killed by a descendant of Cain and how Noah takes his family on a long journey to find Noah’s grandfather, Methuselah.

The director, Darren Aronofsky, decided to show God speaking to Noah in dreams and visions, rather than having God speak to Noah directly like God spoke to Moses in The 10 Commandments starring Charlton Heston.

I thought this was a good choice, because it made the emotional gravity of Noah’s decision even more profound and painful.

Noah could have been any one of us – a person who had a dream and a vision that didn’t even make sense to him – but one that he followed faithfully, even at great personal cost.

Russell Crowe showed the burden Noah had, both in saving the world and in surviving when everyone else perished.

You could say that Noah had history’s most serious case of “survivor’s guilt”.

Aronofsky and Crowe showed that guilt as taking a tremendous toll on Noah and his family.

Emma Watson again proved that she is one of our finest young female actors, in the part of Ila. I thought her scenes with Russell Crowe were the most effective in the movie.

The story of Noah is one of punishment, loss, redemption, and hope.

It’s a story about how humankind has qualities of both good and evil – always has and always will.

It’s about the choices we make and how those choices affect not only ourselves and our families, but the world as a whole.

That’s why the story of Noah continues to resonate through the centuries and will be told as long as there are people to tell it.

I believe in you!