Noah

I really liked the way the movie depicted Noah receiving revelation from God. His dreams are clear enough for him to understand, but they aren’t as clear to us (though we know what they mean due to our familiarity with the story). He doesn’t get it all at once and it isn’t all clear to him all at once. He has to think on it and work it out in his mind and with those God has blessed him to better understand what it is he needs to do.

Contrary to many world standards and beliefs, the film comes out and equates happiness with being married and having children. The whole film circles around the importance of the family unit and the distress that comes with it breaking up, or not perpetuating.

[***Spoiler Alert...If you haven't seen it and plan to, don't read on (it's on Netflix streaming right now).***]

Two hours into the movie I was rather puzzled at how Noah’s raging lunacy was really tied into anything meaningful. It wasn’t until the conversation between Ila and Noah that everything fell perfectly into place. The movie had been quite the emotional roller coaster. Ham is torn from the possibility of having a family. Shem and Ila live under the cloud of the potential death of their child/children. Ham is on the verge of committing patricide. Ila gives birth to twins, which would satisfy the possibility of all of Noah’s sons having wives. Ila’s new born daughters are almost killed in her arms while crying, but she gets Noah to pause long enough for her to calm them so that they don’t die crying. Noah raises his dagger and almost follows through but can’t, kisses them and walks away.

Why put us through such a ride? How does this have anything to do with the traditional Bible story everyone is so familiar with? Throughout the film the theme of justice beat like drum, relentless and loud. It isn’t until the very end, when despair is about to win out, that the sweet melody of mercy softens the beat and lets us see how much the Creator loves us. The Creator gives us what we need to become like he is, the choices we have to make are difficult for a reason, but if faithful we will be guided to do that which is right. Before I go much further, let me present to you the conversation that tied everything together so beautifully, and without which the film would be so much more difficult to understand and probably wouldn’t have gained my approval.

Ila: “I have to know, why did you spare them?”
Noah: “When I looked down at those two little girls, all I had in my heart was love.”
Ila: “Then why are you alone, Noah? You’re separated from your family.”
Noah: “Because I failed Him [the Creator] and I failed all of you.”
Ila: “Did you? He chose you for a reason, Noah. He showed you the wickedness of man and knew you would not look away. But then you saw goodness too. The choice was put in your hands because he put it there. He asked you to decide if we were worth saving. And you chose mercy, you chose love. He has given us a second chance. Be a father, be a grandfather. Help us to do better this time, help us start again.”

Now the Bible says nothing of this choice that Noah was given, but is it that far fetched? Noah saw himself as human/weak/sinful as any of those who were left behind. He confesses that neither the Creator nor he sees himself as “good” but merely “someone who will complete the task.” Noah didn’t understand why the Creator had chosen his family to survive and the entire human race be destroyed. As good and humble of a man that he was, he was truly sorry for the fate of the world. I appreciated the depiction of the sorrow and guilt Noah felt for leaving so many of God’s children to such a death.

Noah was beginning to be at peace with the fate of his family (no perpetuation of the human race) knowing that their (and his) eventual death was not that far distant from that of all the people that were left behind to drown. God chose to save all the animals and Noah’s family, but as far as Noah knew, Ila was barren and so God really hadn’t intended for them to survive much beyond the flood. This weight on his soul was not lightened when he learned of Ila’s pregnancy, but weighed it down even more, due to the conclusion he had already arrived at and was trying to come to grips with. He is so distraught that he accuses his wife and grandfather of “undermining the Creator,” given their role in healing Ila’s barrenness.

After he thought he had failed in God’s eyes, he was lost in confusion and despair for his choice to let his granddaughters live. And then the dialog above occurs and light re-enters Noah’s soul. He chooses again, more resolutely and with peaceful assurance, to love and be with his family.

Noah was blinded so much by the weight of God’s justice that he didn’t recognize the full choice that he was given. He was so down about assisting in the death of the human race that he failed to see God’s merciful, outstretched hand to him and his family.

To be sure some things were exaggerated and changed to make a good story. But I found the story no less inspiring than what’s written in the scriptures*.

*The LDS religion has an additional book of scripture that adds some more information into the story of Noah that might make this a little more far-fetched (e.g., the Giants fought against Noah). However, as I’ve already mentioned several times, this is a good movie and goodness is there if you want to find it.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010)

Entertainment Rating: 3 of 5

The movie started off with some good potential. We enjoyed watching Dave learning about using his powers, but there ended up being way too much packed into the last half of the film. When a boy with a few days practice can defeat one of Merlin’s most powerful enemies, Morgana, when Merlin couldn’t (granted she was bodiless, so maybe weaker?) was a little too unbelievable. There was also little explanation as to all the other sorcerer’s imprisoned in the Grimhold.

While not a great movie, we had fun watching it. Don't forget to stay for the end of the credits as there's a secret scene that reveals something interesting.

Moral Rating: 3 of 5

If you step up to the plate, you will be surprised what you can actually do. This doesn’t mean you will acquire super powers or unearth your hidden wizardry destiny, but taking steps in the dark to do something you know is for the ultimate progression of good is an important element of faith.

Secondhand Lions

Synopsis

An irresponsible mother leaves her son with her two mysterious uncles with hopes that he will come across their supposed millions of dollars. While with his uncles, the boy learns the importance of belief and faith in things that the world generally scoffs at. In the end the boy must choose to continue the path his wayward mother leads him in or to stay and be raised by his uncles.

Entertainment Value - B

Great humor and fun story. Go out of your way to see this one at least once.

Moral Value - Failure to Communicate? - 4

The whole mother leaving her son bit was rather disappointing. Not that all stories need to be happy, and maybe the "dysfunctionality" of this family is actually a plug for families to stick together so their kids don't get stuck with crazy old uncles (though the story actually seemed to say that this situation was better, so maybe it's trying to encourage external family members to step up to the plate to help family members in need.)

Part of Hub's manhood speech speaks volumes:

"Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love... true love never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn't matter if it's true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in."

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

This movie could be summed up quite well in one statement: "War is Hell".  I haven't seen too many anti-war films, and though I believe war is necessary in some instances (almost never in provoking, but primarily in defending) this film did a very good job of portraying the terrors of war.  Having never been in the military, I can't imagine how terrifying and desensitizing it can be on the war front, but can relate to the false concepts of power that seem to spread amongst those not directly involved.

The movie is set in Germany during WWI.  When Paul, a young German soldier, is allowed leave to visit his family he visits with his father and some of his father's friends who seem to have the war all worked out to be won by Germany.  They assumed that everyone fighting had a deep passion for the success of Germany and desire to dominate its enemies.  The reality was that a lot of the young kids that got fired up about the war really had no clue what they were fighting for or who they were fighting against and ended up regretting even being there.  They even began to see their enemies as human beings, not just political rivals.

One of the things I gleaned from the film is that we can't afford to be afraid of the truth.  We need to be willing to search out and listen to the whole truth from the mouth of those who have first-hand experience.  For instance, there are positive first-hand stories from the U.S. presence in Iraq and other places in the middle east that the mainstream media tends to ignore and instead panders to the political left by publishing nothing but horror stories of the over seas wars we are waging distorting the truth.

I also appreciated the depiction of the need for God in such dire circumstances.  Faith in God is what can ultimately bring us out of the darkest trenches of our lives and give us hope in Christ and courage to live righteously in this immoral and amoral world.

Water Horse, The: Legend of the Deep

Luke

Rating: 4

This is a movie you could find yourself smiling at when it's over; not because of the message the movie presented, but just because it was a good story and almost got away with you not feeling like this was a movie for kids. There was no overarching message presented to the audience. It was a fantasy about how a young boy found an egg that hatched into a baby Loch Ness monster and became the only friend that could understand the emptiness and confusion the boy felt at the loss of his father.

There really isn't a whole lot more to say. You could look really hard and extract some moral lessons from the character interactions, but nothing really stood out to me as a lesson to remember. The writers could have done without making the entire film a very long flashback. There was no purpose to the old man telling the story, other than to possibly show that you shouldn't discard all mysteries as lies. The monster at the end of the story goes from almost eating the boy to saving him, and we later find out that the boy who almost drowns because he stepped off a ledge under the water can miraculously swim. Why does the boy have to swim with the monster to the edge of the lake? Almost too much "Free Willy"-ness for me; but, again, it was enjoyable.