This film was a bit of homework for me, since I'm studying Darwinism this semester. 'Creation (2009)' is an account of naturalist Charles Darwin (played by Paul Bettany), whose book "On the Origin of Species," published in 1859, is probably the most influential and important work in the history of science. It is commonly believed that Darwin delayed publication for twenty years, possibly due to a religious conflict with his wife Emma (played here by Jennifer Connelly).
However, my preliminary research seems to suggest that Darwin didn't dither at all, instead withholding publication until he was certain that his theories were empirically supported. Certainly, the film does linger most emphatically on the former – probably apocryphal – version of Darwin's life, with particular emphasis on the death of daughter Annie. Did Darwin really blame himself for Annie's death, having married his first-cousin?
The narrative of 'Creation' does a lot of temporal jumping around, often cutting to flashbacks without any warning, and bizarrely giving Darwin schizophrenic visions more at home in 'A Beautiful Mind (2001)' (which, by the way, gave John Nash visual hallucinations that the real economist never experienced). I would have liked some more focus on Darwin's voyage aboard the Beagle, especially the work in the Galapagos Islands that first spawned his theory of evolution by natural selection.
Still, this is a beautifully-made film, and Bettany and Connelly give superb performances that are sure to empty the proverbial tear ducts. There's one absolutely stunning sequence, a time-lapse montage, that depicts the apathy of organismal interactions; the world as an indifferent "battleground" in which only the fittest survive. It's a hard pill to swallow, but then it's the only pill that isn't a placebo.
However, my preliminary research seems to suggest that Darwin didn't dither at all, instead withholding publication until he was certain that his theories were empirically supported. Certainly, the film does linger most emphatically on the former – probably apocryphal – version of Darwin's life, with particular emphasis on the death of daughter Annie. Did Darwin really blame himself for Annie's death, having married his first-cousin?
The narrative of 'Creation' does a lot of temporal jumping around, often cutting to flashbacks without any warning, and bizarrely giving Darwin schizophrenic visions more at home in 'A Beautiful Mind (2001)' (which, by the way, gave John Nash visual hallucinations that the real economist never experienced). I would have liked some more focus on Darwin's voyage aboard the Beagle, especially the work in the Galapagos Islands that first spawned his theory of evolution by natural selection.
Still, this is a beautifully-made film, and Bettany and Connelly give superb performances that are sure to empty the proverbial tear ducts. There's one absolutely stunning sequence, a time-lapse montage, that depicts the apathy of organismal interactions; the world as an indifferent "battleground" in which only the fittest survive. It's a hard pill to swallow, but then it's the only pill that isn't a placebo.