The Ark

The BBC offers a fresh take on a well known tale.
The story of Noah’s Ark is so familiar and often told that you wonder whether there is anything new that can be brought to it. Last year’s Russell Crowe fronted film Noah somehow managed to miss out God altogether and turn the title character into a heartless madman. Thankfully Eastenders scribe Tony Jordan takes the opposite approach, ingraining faith and God as the cornerstone of the story and his Noah is the opposite of mad. Instead he is a family man of remarkable understanding, raising four sons and inspiring utter devotion from his wife. When he embarks on his boat building work it is this faith that is challenged and this lies at the heart of what is a family based drama with just a bit of epic for ballast.

"Doesn't look like the ferry's coming, fancy building our own?"

Noah

Does the latest film version of the age old Biblical tale float? 

In theory the story of Noah -who builds an Ark to rescue two of every species from God’s impending worldwide flood- is made for cinematic adaptation with the opportunity to visualise such an apocalyptic tale. Yet if you check the details it is more difficult to avoid the fact that this is a made up incident appearing to suggest a vengeful God and only really makes sense if you are particularly religious.  Darren Aronofsky’s film attempts to swerve around this with the addition of familial tensions and moral issues but comes badly unstuck in the process.