The Noah

Truly remarkable. A one-man film that held my full attention for almost two hours. The storyline is deceptively simple given the complexity of the issues raised: the sole survivor of a nuclear holocaust tries to cope with his new reality by reconstructing, piece by piece, an imaginary civilization based on his memories, fears and desires. It is this illusion that will eventually bring him to face his utter loneliness and powerlessness. Rendered in stark B/W photography, densely punctuated with historical references (including authentic voice recordings of the protagonists of 20th-century history), 'The Noah' is the kind of film that challenges the viewer to see it again and again, each time discovering something new. But where can it be found? I saw it at a CUNY-TV showing years ago. To my knowledge there has not been another TV showing and there is no VHS or DVD of it anywhere.

I had only known Robert Strauss as one of the funny privates in the movie Stalag 17. I never knew that he had a starring role of his own in his own movie. The sad thing about this is that he died right at the time of the movies release. It's in black and white which adds even more dark contemplation to the mood! I recommend this singularly unique, unusually different film I've never seen its like before! Watch it!

I think that someone was trying to be allegorical. They Failed.

The first 2/3 of the film are mildly interesting as Noah invents friends and something resembling _DRAMA_ shows up, you almost feel as if maybe a _PLOT_ might ensue. There are nascent _CHARACTERS_ and some minor _CONFLICTS_ hinting that a larger conflict could occur. (Protagonist is up the tree, we know that rocks can be thrown at him.. and we are eagerly anticipating the first volley...) But then....nothing happens.

The final third of the film degrades into a cacophony of a history-buff's self-serving game with an audio tape recorder. All links to plot, allegory, drama, character, conflict, and sanity are severed. Maybe this is supposed to represent Noah's ever-less-grounded state of mind, but the degree of his grasp on reality was well-established earlier in the film and the noise becomes as annoying as a Phillip Glass composition.

Now to 2 small details worth mentioning: 1)There are some weak humorous points such as Noah's ability to construct a latrine or Noah's resemblance to one of the Marx Brothers. 2)The in-your-face allusion to The 10 Commandments was out of place and over the top.

It would be easy to dismiss this film as dull, and although there's no doubting the fact that I found this film very boring, I'm going to try to explain why this film's very unique concept just didn't come together in the end.

That's what I've got to give the film kudos for: it's an original idea: not just being stranded on a desert island, but assessing a man's insanity by recreating a world all from his memory and imagination. Also, you can't fault the filmmakers for having a real stab at this weird way of showing the insanity that comes with isolation, and some of the sequences, especially those using historical recordings, were interesting to see attempted.

However, in the end, it just doesn't work, largely because it's impossible to get engrossed in this film. It's an interesting story, but it's such an inaccessible way of presenting it, with unthinkably slow pacing, and a very pretentious latter stage that borders on the incomprehensible, and that all comes together to not only make this hard to understand, but exhausting to get through, being one of the heaviest film that I know I'll ever see.

One of the other things that frustrated me about this film was Richard Strauss' performance. His chemistry with the voices in his head is weirdly brilliant in the opening stages, and it makes for some intrigue, but it's his descent from isolation to insanity to complete madness as the film goes on that I just didn't buy.

His performance is ultimately not only intriguing, but it's annoying. He shouts his way through minutes on end of dialogue with himself, so loudly and incessantly that it just hurt my ears watching it, and was perhaps one of the most painful and draining periods of a film I've ever seen.

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The Noah is a tale of humanity's sole survivor after world war three. We find our 'protagonist' (the term barely applies) alone on an island beach, he is an old dog US soldier. Soon he succumbs to the agony of total loneliness, and this is the film- we are exposed to his delusional and hallucinatory world, made up mostly of nostalgic political/military themed reminiscences.

This is the last movie role for Robert Strauss (a sturdy character actor who was all over the silver screen during the 1950's). Strauss is the only actor in the movie, a challenge that he pulls off superbly.

The film was made in Puerto Rico in 1968, was never theatrically released, and was first seen in 1975- this is a very obscure film.

The beginning and ending suited me nicely, be sure to look for the various cultural icons that are generously sprinkled throughout (The famous Rita Hayworth WW2 pinup poster, busts of chairman Mao, etc.) The ending does contain suspense and a haunting moment, but I don't think anyone under 35 yrs of age will 'get it'.

I gave The Noah five out of ten stars because this film needed to have about 15 minutes edited out, its a tad boring or tedious sometimes.