Darren Aronofsky's Noah – Chapter 7

Notes on instant forests, flying doves, our first look at the Ark, and finding sympathy for Ham.

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Doves follow the river to the forest where the Ark is being built.

Things happen quickly in this chapter. A forest sprouts from the barren soil in seconds, thanks to the seed Noah planted. And then a time-lapse sequence takes us ten years into the future, as Noah builds his Ark.

SAMYAZA: Take the traitor back.
OG: He is a child of the old one!
NOAH: Stop! There is work to do. Help us.
SAMYAZA: Help you? We tried to help your kind once. And we lost everything because of you!
NOAH: Not everything. We can save what is left. We can serve Him again.

Themes. This is the film’s first explicit nod to the possibility of some sort of redemption or reconciliation for the Watchers—and perhaps, by extension, for the human race as well.

SAMYAZA: You treacherous snake!

Development. In the early screenplay and graphic novel, Og tackles Samyaza to save Noah’s life, and Samyaza responds by drawing a sword and preparing to execute Og. It is only the sudden appearance of the fountain that stays Samyaza’s hand.

Images. The trees shooting up out of the soil are reminiscent of the flower that Noah saw in Chapter 2. And the fountain foreshadows the waters from the deep that will help flood the world in Chapter 14.

Themes. This is the only time in the whole film that someone calls someone else an animal as an insult. That’s interesting, because Noah keeps saying the animals are “innocent” and basically sinless—and no one contradicts him—but it seems that snakes, at least, have developed a somewhat different reputation. Perhaps Samyaza is remembering how the serpent turned to evil in the Garden of Eden.

Interestingly, Noah’s wife and son will apparently be a little nervous about snakes coming aboard the Ark in Chapter 8, too.

SAMYAZA: The Creator?

Development. In the early screenplay, graphic novel, and official novelization, Noah tastes the water as it first comes out of the fountain.

The published screenplay says “half a dozen rivulets” are radiating out from the fountain. There are five in the finished film.