Creation

You probably haven't heard about Creation, the new biographical movie that deals with the turmoil Charles Darwin endured as he moved toward publication of On the Origin of Species. Here, you can hear ScientificAmerican.com's John Pavlus interview the film's director, Jon Amiel, along with Randal Keynes. Keynes is Darwin's great-great-grandson and the author of Annie's Box: Darwin, His Daughter, and Human Evolution, the book on which the film is based. Although Creation focuses largely on the very human side of Darwin as he faces a literally life-changing decision, the director feels that enough of the content deals with the actual science behind the theory that a movie-going biologist will not feel cheated.

Creation opens in 1858 as Darwin struggles to complete Origins. It's 22 years since he returned from his circumglobal expedition on the HMS Beagle that forever changed his thinking about the natural world, and 20 years after a reading of Mathus' Essay on the Principle of Population provided the thunderbolt of inspiration that would lead to the theory of evolution by natural selection. More significantly for the movie's storyline, it's also seven years after the death of his daughter Annie, an event that, perhaps, influenced Darwin the man as much as the Galapagos Islands influenced Darwin the scientist. Annie plays a prominent role in the film, appearing in Charles' imagination to offer support and encouragement. Charles' wife Emma, played by Jennifer Connelly, also figures heavily in the plot. Emma was deeply religious, and feared that her husband's work would undermine the Church and, perhaps more significantly, the life that they had built. (On a side note, if Emma did, in fact, look like Jennifer Connelly it would certainly provide a bit of salve for any degree of emotional turmoil.)

So, why has this film flown under the radar? Well, only recently has it found a U.S. distributor, with most companies fearing the "controversy" that would be generated by a film about Darwin's life. The source of controversy, of course, is not the film itself, but rather the vocal mob with flaming torches that hounds anything that threatens their eroding world view. Check out the IMDB page for Creation, and read a few of the comments. We're fighting an an uphill battle.

Here's the trailer...




Chances are it won't play in a theater anywhere close to our part of the world. Netflix again.