Film Adaptations - Going Biblical

Biblical Movies and Me

Having been raised Roman Catholic with the help of some very colorful Children's Bibles, there were only a few stories that stood out to me. There was The Creation, The Great Flood, and Exodus. What helped fuel my interest in those three stories? Animated Hanna-Barbera cartoons that brought these stories to life. What would also fuel my interest in these stories? Knowing that there are live-action movies based on them. The most famous being Charlton Heston's Ten Commandments. 

What I would later discover is that I'm not so much interested in these subjects because of a complete faith in God. In fact, I don't even view these stories as prime examples of enforcing one's faith in God. These stories were powerful to me just through the sheer power of storytelling. The size, the scale, the characters, what drives them. That's what had me interested in those three specifically. Of course there is a moral to be told about putting faith in God, but I can view these as great stories that have the potential to be tapped into great cinema.

Lucky for me, The Ten Commandments is one such film that shows that these types of stories can have a grand cinematic power. While I do believe there are stories in the Bible that should be brought on film, I do not agree that they have to be "faithfully" put on screen.

My Criticism of "Faith-Based" and "Accurate Biblical" Films

Nothing is perfect. No one will ever be able to make an accurate cinematic depiction of the Bible. That's just something people will have to accept. Especially with times changing.

I wrote this article mainly due to overhearing a conservative talk show that my mother frequently listens to. I was fascinated by how much they hated the latest Biblical Epic Film, NOAH, though I wouldn't exactly called myself surprised. I've been keeping track of the making of Darren Aronofsky's Biblical epic for years from the beginning when he wanted Christian Bale as Noah to when he made it a graphic novel to finally beginning production with Russell Crowe. Because I knew that the conservative talk show was very Christian based, I can already predict the problems that would be listed. "Wasn't accurate, not faithful, and no mention of God." That's pretty much the sum of what they're saying.

The one thing that bothered me about those comments was not mentioning God in the movie NOAH because he was mentioned several times throughout the movie. Okay, in the film they called him "The Creator" instead of God, but at least they're acknowledging that there is a God in the film, right? Apparently it is wrong to call God anything else other than God in a movie that is suppose to be about God destroying the Earth. I can understand why some people would be upset. But really, is it that big a deal? I would be more insulted if they did not mention ANY God in the movie to make it more realistic. But the filmmakers did go out their way to mention God, which in the film is called The Creator.

Then comes these comments about how it was not accurate and not faithful. The conservative talk show hosts would site the other Biblical Film, Son of God, as a better movie. It has been sited as being more faithful and more about what God is about. Especially since it shows the love of Jesus. If you may recall I've said in the beginning, I consider myself Catholic, but my favorite stories are The Creation, The Great Flood, and Exodus. None of those include Jesus.

That's not to say Jesus story in the New Testament isn't interesting. But whenever a Christian based production company makes a film about Jesus I never find myself interested to watch it. Even the film Son of God, which was clearly made for TV (it was originally an episode on a show called The Bible) did not interest me or uplifted my faith in Jesus whatsoever. 

I've always felt like Jesus deserves a good modern film. And there have been hundred that are Christian produced that are definitely based around the notion of showing how amazing Christianity is. I'm not one to go against one's beliefs but the main problem I have with these types of films is how heavy handed these can be. 

As a filmmaker and film critic there is one key thing about what makes a great movie that a lot of Christian made films don't have: SUBTLETY. There has to be something powerful that is hidden in the film. Most Christian films are not subtle. They are straight forward in Jesus is great and faith in God is always right. It doesn't make people think. It affirms Christian beliefs but for the average movie goer who doesn't want to think when they go to a movie, don't want someone shoving a message into their brain. The average movie goer wants to pick it up as they go along. I almost want to bash on these conservative talk show hosts who say that we live in a Christian Nation that wants to see Good Christian Movies that promote Good Christian Beliefs when the box office numbers clearly show people would rather watch Transformers.

However, NOAH shows that there is indeed an audience who wants to watch Biblical Epics. People want to see these movies, but there have to be liberties taken on them to do so.

Liberties taken when needed

I'm aware that a lot of creative liberties were taken when crafting NOAH into a movie. There are Grigori (guardian angels called Watchers in the film) building the Ark, there's a battle for the Ark, only one son was allowed a wife, Noah goes completely mad. For a movie that tells a story from the Bible that is not really long, in my opinion the movie sets out to do what it is trying to question: How will you react if you're the only one who gets to survive the end of the world? That is a psychological liberty applied to Noah in the film in order to give the viewers that feeling of "if it were me, wouldn't I be thinking the same thing?' Noah has always been depicted as this joyful man with a long white beard with lots of animals. And its always depicted as a cute and happy story. But what the director is trying to show is that if this really does happen, it would be horrifying. Noah and his family would be conflicted about what they're doing because sure they get to live but among the thousands of evil people are there not good ones too?

Now, I'm not going to go out of my way to say that NOAH is an amazing film. It is definitely a treat to see a Biblical film on the screen done the way a broader audience would be intrigued with seeing. However, I prefer the Graphic Novel that the director created when he feared the movie would not be made. I'll explain my opinions on that later. But creative liberties have always been a part of Biblical films. While in NOAH they were more obvious to add subtlety, in The Ten Commandments there was subtle liberties added to enhance the subtlety.

I can assure you that in the Bible, Moses has a speech impediment and needs his brother Aaron to talk to the Pharaoh. In The Ten Commandments he has no such problem (even though he does claim he has a speech problem, no one believes that) especially if you have Charlton Heston's voice of gravitas. Could one imagine a Moses that stutters or mute because he can't talk properly? Or that his brother has to do all the talking for him? That's not a great "film hero." Also, there was no love story between Moses and the woman who would become the future queen of Egypt. An even bigger liberty? None of the Egyptians were Black Africans, who were the dominant population in that region during that time.

Even the Christian lauded and the Critically divided film Passion of the Christ had some liberties taken by having the Devil present through all of the events instead of just the agony in the garden. Even Judas being tormented by demon children is a liberty taken. However I can praise it for being the most faithful to not only the historical language and look, but also knowing that the film has a subtle message that also can act as a positive Christian Message: He sacrificed himself for you.

Would I do anything differently?

I hope to one day make my own versions of the Noah story and the Moses story on the big screen. Though that's a tough act to follow given that this year a Noah movie just premiered with a Moses movie (EXODUS starring Christian Bale) premiering by the end of the year.

What Noah did, is show me that there is a way to take liberties with a Biblical story and make it interesting. Whether or not my interpretations of those two stories would make it to the big screen is up in the air. But what I can say is this.

People want to see Biblical Epics, as long as they are subtle. The theater is to entertain. Not to preach.