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.

Rashomon (1950) - M9.7/E7

I'm sure I had read the name of this movie before, with it being part of the Criterion Collection, on the IMDb top 250, and other top movie lists, but for some reason it seems the first time I had paid any attention to it was when it showed up on my Leonard Maltin day-to-day calendar sometime this past year. My brother-in-law mentioned he had seen it and enjoyed it, so I put it on reserve at the library. After sitting by the TV for almost 6 weeks, we finally sat down to watch Rashomon so that we could turn it back in without being fined. I'm glad we did.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was the first Asian foreign film I had seen and loved it along with Hero, Curse of the Golden Flower, and others. This film will be added to that list of enjoyed movies. While a simple storyline (basically an event and then witnesses reporting what was seen), the way that the story unfolds from the various witnesses is very thought provoking. In addition to a good story, the filming was very impressive (even to someone who doesn't know a whole lot about filming)! It was helpful to watch an intro to the film after having watched it, where the speaker talks about the talent of Kurosawa's filming direction.

I was particularly moved by one of the end scenes where the woodcutter and commoner are arguing over stealing from a baby that has oddly appeared out of nowhere. The woodcutter reprimands the commoner for taking the amulet and kimono from the baby, but is in turn chastised for stealing the dagger from the scene of the crime that he was a witness for, "a bandit calling another a bandit." It's very enlightening to realize that many times what we despise in others is nothing more than traits we have ourselves and resent ourselves for having.

This scene brings up another interesting question with regards to when stealing might be considered OK. It might be considered OK (though not lawful) to steal when your family is starving and you find a valuable dagger to sell to obtain food. The thief should not be excused from the demands of the law, justice must be satisfied (to keep order in society). Stealing from a baby, just because it won’t miss what is taken or know any better, is wrong if it’s only for greed. There are a million different circumstances where this logic is probably flawed or doesn’t work. Laws exist to protect society, and imperfect as they maybe, there may be appropriate times to break the law, so long as you are not putting your soul in danger. This is far from a lesson in ethics, any additional discussion is welcome in the comments.

Wikipedia does a decent job summarizing the last scene of the movie that was equally poignant and more hopeful:

"These deceptions and lies shake the priest's faith in humanity. He is brought back to his senses when the woodcutter reaches for the baby in the priest's arms. The priest is suspicious at first, but the woodcutter explains that he intends to take care of the baby along with his own children, of whom he already has six. This simple revelation recasts the woodcutter's story and the subsequent theft of the dagger in a new light. The priest gives the baby to the woodcutter, saying that the woodcutter has given him reason to continue having hope in humanity. The film closes on the woodcutter, walking home with the baby. The rain has stopped and the clouds have opened revealing the sun in contrast to the beginning where it was overcast."

If you're not biased against black and white films or films that have subtitles (unless you speak Japanese), this is a good movie to watch if you're not in the mood to be solely entertained.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Synopsis

Dr. Parnassus has made several deals with Mr. Nick (the devil), one of which includes the forfeiture of his daughter on her 16 birthday. Fortunately Tony joins the traveling circus and appears to have what it takes to save Dr. Parnassus's daughter.

Entertainment Value

Rating: C

This show was very interesting and very confusing. If it weren't for Wikipedia's candid explanation of why Terry Gilliam put this together and what he was thinking, I would have thought a lot less of this film (not understanding it's purpose of existence). Because the story was so confusing, it was hard to enjoy; and as my wife stated, "if you want to see what it feels like to be high, you'll get it by watching this show" (not that she would know what to compare it to).

Moral Value - Failure to Communicate?

Rating: 4

The most intriguing part of the story happens within the Imaginarium, where peoples dreams become a reality.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

The one interesting theme that came up dealt with a feeling of hopelessness for the salvation of mankind. Man had become so corrupt and completely lost that the doctor (or whatever creation of his perpetuated his dream) thought he knew best and would gather the species he thought necessary to begin life on another planet. This seems to be a common theme in the Sci-Fi genre (Hellboy II, the Matrix, Transformers 2, and others).

Great visual effects, not the greatest acting, so you might enjoy it if you have a really nice visual setup. We ended up with a lot of questions concerning the plot, not a whole lot was explained. Perhaps if a little more of the history of Sky Captain had been explained we could have enjoyed it more. It was for sure a fun movie, if you've nothing better to do or there's not much else on the library DVD shelves.

Gulliver's Travels

Rating: 5

I started reading the book and ended up getting about three-fourths of the way through it.  I can't remember why, I just felt like it was taking an eternity to finish it, so I set it down.  After watching the movie again, I think I have enough desire to pick the book up again and if nothing else, at least finish the last quarter of it.

This story has tons of lessons through it.  Most of them are political, as that was Jonathan Swift's purpose in writing it (as far as we know), but I think the comparison's he made to humanity several hundred years ago are still quite applicable today.  Human nature doesn't seem to change much, just the circumstances in which it exists.

After watching this I have a greater desire to be involved with what is going on in the political world, since that's the group that tends to run things in our lives.  The movie accurately portrays the type of resistance that we can expect from trying to discover errors in current processes and that it really takes the faith of a child to penetrate the clouded intellect of grown men.