[.ca] The Bible: Genesis - The Creation and the Flood

From Amazon.com:
This film based on the Bible's book of Genesis is something akin to a dramatic reading with visuals. The text of Genesis is read by a narrator, who at times appears as an elderly desert nomad telling the story to a small boy and other members of their extended Bedouin family. These presentations make historical sense, of course, as the biblical tales were passed along as oral history for generations. During the story of the creation of the heaven and the earth, the visuals tend toward nature photography alternated with scenes of the venerable storyteller, but during later episodes, actors play some of the characters from the Bible. A story of Adam and Eve is dramatized in a film montage, as are the stories of Cain and Abel. More inventive cinematography, utilizing modern clips of warfare and destruction, are used to illustrate some Old Testament pronouncements about the evils practiced by mankind. Noah's instruction to build the ark is portrayed, and in an elaborate segment, the building of the ark and its use during the great flood is shown. This film may not provide any new insights into the stories of Genesis, but the dramatizations coupled with the readings from the text are often beautifully filmed, and those interested in experiencing the visual atmosphere of the biblical stories will enjoy the presentation. --Robert J. McNamara

serene and satisfying:
This Ermanini Olmo film is filled with magical moments, taken at a leisurely pace; if your usual viewing fare is action packed and music video speed, you might want to pass this one by. The visual beauty of the panoramic Moroccan landscapes and its handsome people are wonderful to watch, but the main attraction here is the narration by the great Paul Scofield ("A Man for all Seasons") in a poetic reading of this section of the Bible. The script fairly accurately follows the first nine chapters of Genesis, with a few added portions, like excerpts from the Song of Solomon, Leviticus Ch. 26, and Psalm 50. Omero Antonutti plays "the grandfather" and "Noah", and the rest of the cast are simply listed as "people of Morocco". The children are exquisite, and the costuming gives the feeling of ancient nomadic times. The score by Ennio Morricone includes tribal folk music and predominantly, the strange and glorious sound of "Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares". I find this film extraordinarily soothing, and the words are like music and calming to the mind and soul; I like to put this film on while I am working, or when I just want to turn the frantic tempo of today's world down a notch.

Too slow:
This film is not bad in regard to biblical accuracy, but there are three problems. (1) It is primarily an old man telling the stories, rather than dramatization of the events. (2) It mixes scriptures from different parts of the Bible so that it is not just Genesis one is hearing in this film. (3) The primary problem is that the film is slow, with a long shots where nothing much is happening.

The Creation and Noah`s Ark:
Hi I`ve just saw this production of Genesis . I am sorry but I think that Lux Vide could have done a better production of the creation and the flood . I could not understand who the Narator was . What had the Beginning and that man`s life had to do with each other . The other productions like Solomon,Abraham,Esther Jesus were much better

Outstanding meditation on the first 9 chapters of the Bible:
Very personal presentation of the biblical account of the creation and the flood by Ermanno Olmi, the acclaimed director of "The Tree of Wooden Clogs." Boring only for those who have no poetic sense whatever! The above average artistic refinement (from the visuals -stunning not to say more- to the very choice of the music) and spiritual depths of the movie will disconcert some. But the movie is a masterpiece. Slow? Yes. Meditative? Yes. Is it a sin? No. It's a hommage. And what a hommage! The spectator is called to make the biblical account his own. Comparing that movie with other biblical stories on characters such as Solomon, Esther or Jeremiah misses the point. Any movie director that would treat the first chapters of Genesis like just another story (although extraordinary) would fail to do justive to its true nature. The Book of Genesis is a spiritual monument -not a historical book, like the Book of Samuel or the Book of Kings. It doesn't mean nothing of it happened. It did happen. Creation is part of history. But the biblical author here does not provide us so much with a word for word description of how things happened than help us understand God's loving providence at work in His creation. Not only does John Huston's litteral treatment of Eve handing the apple over to Adam (in "The Bible," his 1996 version of the Book of Genesis) add nothing to the text. It is purely anecdotic. It has nothing to do with us. The existential (and spiritual) tragedy of sin is totally eclipsed. No action movie will ever capture what goes on deep within man's heart (and soul) each time man turns his back on the one who made him. In other words, the purpose of the biblical creation account is not scientific (HOW the world was made) but theological (WHY the world was made.) God made the world out of love. The world is beautiful because, as St John himself wrote, "God is love." Ermanno Olmi's movie does justice to the biblical account precisely because it reveals to us something of the primeval beauty of the world as it came out from the hands of its creator. Anyone dismayed by the hyperkinetic emptiness of summertime film spectacles will find the spiritual antidote in this quiet but colorful, richly textured movie.

Disappointed:
I, too wish I had read the reviews before purchasing this movie, and I bought it from Amazon! I didn't even watch the entire movie. I got through the first 30-40 minutes and could see that it wasn't going to get any better. Most movies I watch, I like something about them and the majority of them would get two stars or better. This is one of those rare instances in which, if it were possible, it wouldn't get any stars. Don't waste your money.