The Ark

...is the basic sin of this bizarre film. it is a lesson of a boring teacher, it is a preach from a not brilliant pastor but it is not a real film about Noah and the flood. and, sure, many religious films are made for a precise and small public. but, in this case, more details are different. first, the story. who is just a sketch. second - the too obvious moral message,, mixing contemporary social problems with the period of the flood. not the last, the effort of Joanne Whalley and David Threlfall to save a lost cause. it is not a bad film. only an anonimous one. un convincing. and soulless.

Writer Tony Jordan has gone to a back to basics re-telling of the story of Noah. Less of the actual floods and the animals going two by two. After all this is a BBC television movie and the budget was never going to be mega unless Russell Crowe had signed on.

David Threlfall plays Noah and Joanne Whalley plays his loyal wife with their three grown up sons living a hard working life in the desert (it was filmed in Morocco.) Noah is committed to God but a visit to the local market town with his son shows him a life there without belief where violence, faithlessness and cheating is close at hand.

This version has the family in the centre of the drama as well as faith. When Noah gets a visit from God's messenger, family loyalties are put to the test as he goes about building an ark first by himself, then helped by his wife before the rest of the family pitch in which is made to look like hard even bad breaking work.

The film tries to be a modern small scale parable with its comparison to a world of science and bankers although I think it does not entirely carry it off as it comes too close to be rather preachy. The film also disappoints as it strips maybe too much of the familiar traits of the tale such as the animals going to the ark as well as the flooding.

Threlfall is a stern but kind hearted Noah who puts his love of the family first and he does well to be the centre of the film although I guess some viewers would find the northern accents rather off putting and accuse it of being a Shameless in the Desert which is rather unfair.

The biggest miracle in this Bible story is...... just WHERE did Noah get all that wood.... Gopher, or otherwise???

This version is set in a vast desert wilderness - not a sign of a tree for miles and miles; and yet, we see old Noah gallantly struggling home with just one branch. Regardless of where he got it from, it would take him a couple of days just to get that one branch back, let alone the very LARGE pieces we later see he's managed to install. At this rate, I reckon it would have taken him about 20 years to float his boat. Later on, the kids relent and start to help a bit but ????

The cast are excellent but, sadly, the writing and the planning of this one let them down badly.

If you want a traditional Noah's Ark story, stick to 1966's "The Bible....in the Begining.". There you will find John Huston doing a fine DIY job, complete with animals going in, two by two, torrential rain and a proper flood..... not to mention a cracking score by Toshiro. Mayuzumi.

You know the story, but what would your wife say if you told her you were informed by an angel that God had chosen to save you while he drowned the rest of mankind for its sins? You want to build a boat seventy miles from the sea when it hasn't rained for a year? Why don't you lie down on the couch and tell the good doctor all about it? Well, not the last part, but you get the drift. Other family members were not exactly chuffed either, the consensus being that the old man had been out in the sun too long. And of course this view was shared by the crowds who denied even the existence of the Man Upstairs, but weren't our ancestors supposed to be superstitious heathens who believed in all manner of spirits?

Whatever, this special TV adaptation of the story of Noah and his ark is not concerned with anachronisms; the word science did not exist in his time, but it's unlikely he spoke English either.

One serious criticism must be made of it, it is curtailed greatly towards the end. After they enter the ark we see nothing until Noah is back on dry land. Whatever restrictions the film makers were under, they should have extended it for at least another half hour.

How can you not fear God and create such a false image of the biblical message?

If Noah's Biblical family were like in the movie, only Noah would have survived the flood.

Only Noah and his three sons, Shem, Japheth, and Ham, and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark.

Before the flood, Noah had only these three sons.

Book of Revelation 22 18. I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book.19. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are written in this book.