CREATION
Not being a proponent of “intelligent design” I wanted a film about Charles Darwin to be a revelation. Here is someone who radically changed history, and our idea of where we came from with his publication of The Origin of the Species. As presented in this film, Darwin struggled with faith versus science, but the book itself seemed to hinge on his ability to deal with the grief over the loss of his favorite daughter.
When we meet Darwin (Paul Bettany) he is telling a story to Annie (Martha West) related to one of his many overseas travels. We soon recognize this to be a sort of figment of the imagination of a soul tortured both by as overwhelming sadness over as well as by the daunting task of compiling his years of research and the revolutionary thesis therein. He is not only overcome with grief but he’s locked in a conflict with his wife Emma (Jennifer Connelly) who is a devout Christian as well as a magnificent pianist. The Darwins have four other children who Charles all but ignores due to this consumed state of mind.
As a meditation on the tortured soul of a writer, I can both relate and was horrified. Writer’s block, the back and forth between having something to say and feeling as if it’s all just hogwash is real. The manufacturing of various distractions, in Darwin’s case ranging from a hypochondriacal self-obsession with “water cures” to conversations with the phantom daughter. There is also the very real necessity of locking the outside world out, ultimately, in order to get the work done. I’m not sure, however, that film serves Darwin and his achievements well with these revelations. True, great men have feet of clay but are they really such as quivering mess.
The film is ultimately a missed opportunity, perhaps because Jon Amiel couldn’t decide which heavyweight theme to go with or how to make them work together. He tries to dramatize an internal struggle of someone who was a scientific intellectual. Expressing, in visual terms, the workings of the conflicted mind is a tricky feat, requiring both great writing, and strong control over very talented actors. Bettany is good, not great, and Connelly doesn’t have a lot to do besides appear coldly exquisite. The mishmash of conflict expressed as emotional illness becomes quite tedious after a while. Additionally, the flashbacks, within flashbacks, within a story became confusing. I would have loved more time or investigation of the spiritual struggle, or even about Darwin’s research methods.
The religious fundamentalists won’t be coming out in droves to see this film, despite the title, and thank goodness because they certainly wouldn’t walk away with any higher opinion of Charles Darwin. Perhaps the film is meant to deflate Darwin as the focal point of the great conflict over human origins, to humanize him, make him seem like a real person who had doubts and deep troubles. With a little more commitment to the character and some peppier pacing it might have succeeded.
Creation opens January 22, 2010.
Directed by Jon Amiel; screeplay by John Collee; screen story by Jon Amiel and John Collee, based on the book “Annie’s Box” by Randall Keynes; Director of Photography, Jess Hall; produced by Jeremy Thomas; edited by Melanie Oliver; music by Christopher Young.
With: Paul Bettany (Charles Darwin); Jennifer Connelly (Emma Darwin); Jeremy Northam (Reverend Innes); Benedict Cumberbatch( Joseph Hooker); Toby Jones (Thomas Huxley) and Martha West (Annie Darwin.)
