The story of Noah is a scary one: it is, after all, that of a man who sat in a boat while the world around him drowned. Darren Aronofsky recognises this, and so, in his new blockbuster movie “Noah,” there is a scene where the terrified screams from those swept away by God’s great flood cause Noah’s family distress as they sit in the safety of the ark. Why can’t they throw out ropes so that people can climb into the ark, they ask Noah. “There is no room for them,” comes his dismissive reply, though look into his eyes and you might detect that he too is troubled by the screams. I suppose it goes without saying that Aronofsky’s telling of this biblical tale is darker than your average Sunday School rendition: this is, after all, the man who gave us the uncompromisingly bleak “Requiem for a Dream,” which memorably ended with amputations and electro-shock therapy. Those scenes were tough to stomach, and so are moments in “Noah:” images of cannibalism fill the screen, newborn babies are placed in danger and one poor soul is unexpectedly trampled to death (don’t ask me how the film got away with a 12A rating). Not to mention that the apocalypse occurs, the horror of which Aronofsky fully embraces.
Noah is played by Russell Crowe, who performs him not as the smiling, rosy-cheeked hero you read about as a child but as a complex man, conflicted between his love of his family and nature and his need to serve his God. Crowe lends to Noah the gravitas deserving of a biblical figure. He also lends him a compelling determination which teeters dangerously close to obsession. And if there exists a running theme throughout Aronofsky’s films, surely it’s obsession — self-destructive obsession, to be precise. Most of Aronofsky’s characters share this trait, be they Sean Gullette’s isolated number theorist in his feature debut “Pi,” the various drug abusers in “Requiem for a Dream” or Natalie Portman’s perfectionist ballerina in “Black Swan.” Noah is no different, his obsession being to selflessly obey God, and his self-destruction coming when he finds himself willing to commit acts of monstrosity in the name of this obedience. At the film’s beginning we like Noah: we see that he is kind and loving and brave, and balanced between his devotion to God and his devotion to his family. Towards the end we’re not so sure: that balance is lost, and soon enough basic morals give way to thoughtless extremism.
Apologies if I’m making it all sound very bleak: as an epic fantasy blockbuster “Noah” actually works very well, with plenty of dazzling visual effects and spectacular apocalyptic destruction on display. Most enjoyable of the special effects are the stone giants, who are like stop-motion monsters out of a Ray Harryhausen production, and whose thrilling battle with violent tribesmen, as led by a remarkably slimy Ray Winstone, resembles the battle at Isengard between the Ents and the Orcs in “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.” But I do like that there’s a grit and a darkness to this, and that at the centre of it there is a Noah who is a man, complex and conflicted. After so many rumours of studio tampering and a watering down of Aronofsky’s vision, it’s a relief that the film is as bold, fierce, thoughtful and daring as it is — though I suspect it’s less the studios and more Aronofsky we have to thank for that.
Rating: 8/10
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