Noah Makes It to Hollywood

Edward Hicks's 1846 painting of Noah's ark

          While recent films like Blue Like Jazz and October Baby have stirred discussion on the definition and philosophy of "Christian film," a biblical story will make its way onto the big screen. Director Darren Aronofsky (Wrestler, Black Swan), Noah's actor Russell Crowe (Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind) and the rest of the cast and crew started filming Noah last month. It will be released in the spring of 2014.
          Myself, I haven't seen any of Aronofsky's directorial works, but his resume in that vein is impressive, having recently qualified actors/actresses for Oscar nominations and even a win. However, Aronofsky isn't afraid to be gratuitous, and now he's directing his film-adapted screenplay of the Bible's foremost demonstration of the wrath of God on earth. All I've gathered from Aronofsky's motives and intentions from interviews is that the character fascinated him since he was 13, and he plans to have the script give Noah some (extrabiblical?) survivor guilt.
          It can be a great thing when biblical stories are accurately portrayed in film, etc., no matter the director's personal theology, but, as in any story portrayal, it's always good to respect the source material as much as possible. Noah could be the first biblical blockbuster since Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, which took great pains to respect the exegetical tenets, nooks and crannies of the story.
          My estimate? It certainly won't be your Sunday school's story of Noah, and it may not even be the biblical story. It may be too extrabiblical (or even sacrilegious?) for churchgoers and too controversial and implausible for others. After all, we're talking about a very complex story centered on the wrath of God.