Tag: reviewer

Darren Aronofsky’s cinematic re-telling of the story of Noah has certainly stirred people up.

While quite a few reviewers, both religious and non-religious, have given the film high marks, many Christians, both Evangelical and Catholic, have registered a far less than enthusiastic reaction.

One prominent Catholic blogger and movie reviewer opined that Noah is “embarrassingly awful” and “the stupidest film in years.” Most of the religious critics have complained that the film plays fast and loose with the Genesis account, adding all sorts of distracting and fantastic elements to the well-known story. In the midst of all of this — and no doubt in part because of it — Noah took in $44 million on its opening weekend.

Modern cinematic midrash

Noah is best interpreted, I think, as a modern cinematic midrash on the Biblical tale. The midrashim — extremely popular in ancient Israel — were imaginative elaborations of the often spare Scriptural narratives. They typically explored the psychological motivations of the major players in the stories and added creative plot lines, new characters, etc.