Bourla’s masterpiece not only explores the end of civilization, but also dares to use this premise as a demonstration on society. Bourla poses his character Noah as not just a simple soldier who washed up on an island, but as an allegory for both mankind and a creator. “The Noah” is unlike anything I’ve ever seen, and it continues to be an undiscovered piece of art. The premise within a premise explores our character through a simplistic and down to Earth theist theory of creation. Noah is a soldier who has all the know-how of survival, and now that civilization has ended, his imaginary friend is his creation, sort of as compensation.
He’s survived enough and knows enough to create his own civilization, and somewhere his wish has been granted. Perhaps he’s gone insane, or maybe it’s something more. Suffice it to say, Bourla’s film plays out more and more like a horrific nightmare where this man on an island truly discovers complete silence, isolation, and loneliness. In his agony, he creates, so to speak, a man named Friday. Friday is a faceless entity that learns how to speak and comprehend through Noah. And as all creations do, it begins to want, need, and think for itself. Bourla examines that perhaps there is a god who created mankind, and perhaps the god was simply a man who was too lonely and accidentally created life that trailed away from his grasp.
In Friday’s isolation he asks for a woman, and then the viewer will notice it’s not so much a man with a creation, but more a depiction of the story of the bible. Noah creates a woman Friday Ann who is not so pleased with her master and dares to challenge his authority which inspires Friday. What the viewer will wonder is, are these people manifestations of Noah’s mind, or now that he’s the last man on Earth, has god befriended him? Or, for the more obvious theory, is Noah god? Bourla’s portrait of this man named Noah on this island progresses into the story of god. He created a man and a woman, they sinned, and he cast them out, et al.
We watch as Noah not only realizes his creations are bothersome but that he can no longer control them, and he transforms into a man who has experienced man, and has also experienced all that a god has. Bourla paints the god as human, one with needs, and wants, and possibly one who created man out of isolation. It’s alluded that perhaps Noah created his unseen partner Friday out of sheer agony. However, Friday does bumps into him one day on the island. Noah witnesses his own creations evolving and suddenly has to decide if he wants them. But can he still decide? Bourla’s film leaves much to the imagination and it’s an utterly thought provoking film that will leave its audience agape in awe, and curiosity.
Many of the scenes are amazing as Bourla blares all the events of man set to grim montages of ravaged trucks, desolate huts, and endless rain. All of which are complimented by a powerful performance by Robert Strauss. Bourla’s picture of the last man on Earth is frightening, nightmarish, and incredibly under-appreciated.
