While many students will go to see the film “Noah” in theaters for entertainment, others will go for a religious purpose.
As students go see the film, it serves as a different method in getting those to become engaged in a religious activity as a group rather than attending a church service, said Larry Stephens, director of strategic partnerships at Cru Headquarters.
“I immediately thought students will want to talk about [“Noah”] for hours after seeing it,” Stephens said. “It’s a conversation starter. So why not engage in it afterwards?”
Although the movie tells a biblical story, some think the plot is misleading from the original story of “Noah.”
Sophomore and member of Cru Michael Wenig said from a Christian’s point of view the film wasn’t factual, but a pamphlet provided by Cru with the real story of “Noah” sparked great conversation after the viewing.
“It led for a great discussion and there was a good connection with people,” Wenig said. “It was cool for them to reach out to us to see the film.”
Cru staff member Nick Gillispie said the film has timeless and important themes people can relate to in life. It allows people to address those themes and have a conversation about it with friends and family.
“It’s valuable because there’s common ground,” Gillispie said. “It doesn’t matter if some of the themes weren’t religious because the movie still had important themes for people to talk about.”
Stephens said people going to see the movie should go in knowing it’s not going to be the exact story of “Noah.” One thing that might be different for some people is the story is going to be different from the biblical story they might have been told when they were younger.”
“The story of ‘Noah’ is actually really dark,” Stephens said. “There are some things in the film that will catch you off guard and students will find out that it’s not a happy story. It will lead to a better discussion and creates liberties.”
The free tickets were to bring those religious and non-religious together and to reach out to many different groups of students at the University together.
Stephens said the director, Darren Aronofsky, gave people a chance to be a part of something much more than just another Hollywood film.
“The director showed us that you can bring believers and non-believers together,” he said.
