Evan Almighty

Well, I just caught part of the movie Evan Almighty and I must say... well, before I say anything, a few caveats: I know it is a dramatic comedy. I know it is "entertainment," and I know people watch it because it is light fare, fiction, and not supposed to be true to anything... but still, it assumes so much, it presents too much taken for granted, and it generates so much guff about belief and religiosity that were I a believer I would definitely not like it, and as non-believer all I can say is... what the heck? It was intriguing that it presented the story of Noah's ark connected to an environmental theme, and of course both movies in this series have an African American "God," but beyond those bits, the movie is just confusing. A particular bit of redescription takes place when the God character attempts to explain to Evan's (the Noah character) wife that the story of the Ark is not so much about disaster and God's wrath but about how folks came together side by side. Indeed, it is about coming together side by side... to escape certain genocide and decimation of all life.

So, we had it, played it at home, my son (8 years old) watched it. Even if it presents a generic God, the assumptions about belief and the inevitability of such belief and of God as fact in people's lives is the central presumption. I have to do some damage control.

Comments

[Badger3k]

The movie was pretty lame. A few funny moments, but overall a bit pathological. God, instead of acting on his knowledge and preventing the flooding, the ruination of many lives as their homes were destroyed, the near-destruction of Evan's family - the list goes on - decides to have another ark built. The flood story is about people coming together? What a pack of lies. It's about the destruction of the world in a fit of pique, borrowed probably from the Babylonians or the Sumerians. Why not just nudge a reporter into looking into the dam? Why not give hints to an engineer who could have discovered the problem before the dam broke, thereby saving everybody? If there was an ark built in New Orleans, would that "coming together" have made the destruction worth-while?

The more I think of it, the more disgusting and disturbing the movie is.