Film Review: NOAH (Daniel Aronofsky)

It's some time since I went to the cinema and even longer since I went to an Odeon in Leicester Square. It didn't take me long to remember why I'm not so keen on these places: the advertising, the trailers for identikit violent films, the constant WwwwHhhhOooooooooshing to remind you that they have Surround Sound or whatever it is now called.

Noah got a very positive review in The Financial Times so I overcame my suspicions about Bible Blockbusters and took my seat.

I don't know enough about the theology but I would bet my lunch that the story of Noah is not about a war between Veggies and Carnivores. And if Noah had "Helpers" [ a traditonal folk tale category] they surely weren't animations - Jurassic Park but on speed.

That said, the film works not because of the animations or the Surround Sound, effective as they quite often are, but because of the well-scripted and acted family drama at the heart of the film. Noah, a reflective Hippie patriarch (California circa 1970?), loses the plot. He concludes that God wants to save the Animals but wants Humankind to perish. Despite a lot of strong woman opposition and some female guile it is only a last-moment epiphany which saves him from his misreading of the omens and portents. And so except for Ham, all ends well and all will continue well ( if you get past the stage of unavoidable incest).

I enjoyed my afternoon virtually alone in a Leicester Square cinema; but I didn't dream about the film.