Around two years ago, Rabbi [Geoffrey] Dennis, 54, who leads a Reform synagogue in the Dallas suburbs and teaches Jewish studies at the University of North Texas, received a call from Ari Handel, the executive producer of such films as “Pi,” “Black Swan” and “The Wrestler.” Handel was, along with director Darren Aronofsky, co-writing and producing “Noah,” the film coming to theaters next week. As a Manhattan Beach seventh grader, young Aronofsky wrote a poem about Noah, “The rain continued through the night and the cries of screaming men filled the air.”I've not yet seen the movie yet, of course, but early indications are that the Noah mythology used in it is nothing if not eclectic. That make sense if Rabbi Dennis was their consultant. I noted a review of his Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism a few years ago and on that basis put it in the "use with caution" category. There's not much point in carping about the historical accuracy of a movie about Noah's Flood, but it interesting to get a sense of where the traditions used in this version of the story came from. Rabbi Dennis adds:
Now, Paramount was giving him $130 million to tell the story, with Russell Crowe and Emma Watson (and Aronofsky was giving his seventh-grade teacher a walk-on in the movie). Aronofsky has admitted that “Noah” was being written by “two not very religious Jewish guys,” so Handel was calling Rabbi Dennis, author of the “Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic and Mysticism” (Llewellyn Publications), and a 2007 National Book Award finalist, to give a Jewish sense of the story.
If you want to see Aronofsky’s original vision, says Rabbi Dennis, “You need to see his French comic book of Noah [available on Amazon]. It’s a storyboard for a movie.” There is a reference, said the rabbi, to six-winged angels in Isaiah. The film refers to the Tzohar, the gemstone given by an angel to Adam, and used by Noah for illumination in the ark. Watchers (thought to be the Fallen Angels), is found in the apocryphal Book of Enoch, written by Noah’s great-grandfather.
Rabbi Dennis adds, “In the Dead Sea Scrolls, there’s a version of a book called the Book of Giants. In each one of these books there is more elaborate narrative about who the Fallen Angels were, what they did, and how they corrupted the earth. It’s so dualistic that it became problematic for the rabbis. Judaism developed a theology of angels in which angels have no free will. If angels have no free will, angels can’t rebel.”
In related news, Egyptian Islamists are proactively calling for the movie to be banned: Egyptian Islamists say no to ‘Noah’. But the call for a ban is getting some pushback from the (coolly named) Creativity Front: "Noah" triggers a storm in Egypt: The Creativity Front rains down their Al Azhar-opposing opinion.
There has also been proactive Christian criticism of the film, which is noted in the first article linked to above.
Additional PaleoJudaica posts on Noah, the movie, are here and links.
UPDATE: More on Christian objections to the movie (HT Akma Adam on Facebook): Russell Crowe film ‘Noah’ edited to appease Christians upset by ‘historical inaccuracies’ (Scott Kaufman, The Raw Story).
According to The Wrap, Paramount Pictures has edited Darren Aronofsky’s Noah — which stars Russell Crowe in the titular role — in order to avoid offending Christian viewers.Historically inaccurate. You don't say?
Aronofsky allegedly told an associate that he was “not happy” when he learned that Paramount had appended a disclaimer to both the film and promotional materials for it.
At the request of the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB), Paramount added a disclaimer which reads, in part, that “[t]he film is inspired by the story of Noah. While artistic license has been taken, we believe that this film is true to the essence, values, and integrity of a story that is a cornerstone of faith for millions of people worldwide. The biblical story of Noah can be found in the book of Genesis.”
NRB board member Phil Cooke told The Wrap that the disclaimer was necessary because the film is “historically inaccurate.” It is, Cooke said, “more of an inspired movie than an exact retelling.”
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UPDATE: St. Andrews PhD student Raymond Morehouse puts this latter controversy into context. Somewhat related anecdote at the end of this post.
