Monday, April 14, 2014

Noah... No way!

My good friend David Bradford has a fun blog (David Bradford's Blog ) that he uses to apply lessons from life into a business setting... he was a little generous to assign any worthwhile meaning to the recent movie Noah.  So, I commented on his blog and thought I would share it with you here.


My wife had high expectations for the movie Noah.  Me, less so.  It isn't often that I am impressed with the tone and message of Hollywood's interpretation of the spiritual.  And for those attempting to create a "true" account of the biblical scriptures, the art usually tends to be lacking; Ben Hur not withstanding!
noah the story of one of the most epic biblical figures is about to ...

One of the business lessons to be learned from Noah is, don't assume that the other guy believes the same things you believe.  In business, you may be an ethical, moral capitalist, but the other guy may have no such compass to follow and may be dedicated to a win-lose proposition. 

In the case of Noah, going to a "biblical" movie, directed by an atheist, and based not on the Bible account of Noah but on Gnosticism and Kabbalah (see, http://drbrianmattson.com/journal/2014/3/31/sympathy-for-the-devil ) is a perfect example of setting incorrect expectations.

The problem is, in business one is more inclined to conduct due diligence in these matters, in movie going... let's face it, we're there for an escape, buttered popcorn, and a diet coke...


The most redeeming moment of the movie was Emma Watson's character (who is clearly smarter than Russell Crowe's Noah) who lectured Noah that his "failure" was exactly who God knew him to be, one who would not take the innocent lives of babies.  Oh, and I did quite like the depiction of the Ark... seemed pretty sound to me.


  noah-movie-2014_image_background


Other than that, it wasn't that good of a movie.  Domestic box office was great the first week, and then word of mouth probably brought it down.  This is a movie that has been "redeemed" financially by its international release... the all-star cast certainly gave it legs overseas.


Take the time to read the link from Dr. Brian Mattson above.  Very interesting essay on the movie and its source material.

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