Creation

Creation, based on Darwin’s great-great-grandson’s biography Annie’s Box, is above all things a testament to the resilience of religion. It is the dramatised account of Charles Darwin’s struggle to publish his world-changing On the Origin of the Species. The central conceit of the film is that Charles (Paul Bettany) suffered so greatly from the death of his favourite daughter, Annie (Martha West), that her presence followed him throughout his battle with his own ill-health and his reservations about the implications of his writing for the faith of his wife, Emma (Jennifer Connelly) and the world at large.

The nature of Annie’s influence may be a filmic conceit, but it certainly creates good drama, if not an entirely reliable document of Darwin’s life. The film slips between the past, present and future, and Annie’s frequent appearances both before and after her death give the narrative a strangely circular elasticity. Whilst this can be confusing, it gives a sense of Darwin’s inner upheaval as he explores his feelings about his family, Annie’s death, and his work. Bettany’s investment in the role seems almost total, portraying Darwin’s healthy passions and gradual deterioration with a moving pathos. Bettany and Connelly are married, and this presumably doesn’t hurt the convincing dynamic between them in the film, although Connelly isn’t really challenged by the role. It also prompts a good trivia question: How many films have featured a married couple played by actors married to each other? (Contact me for a free something for the first correct answer!)

John Collee’s script provides an emotionally satisfying insight into Darwin and his family. Given this Scottish writer’s success with other works such as Master and Commander (and, at least, commercial success with Happy Feet), it is fortunate he’s moved to Sydney and can now be proclaimed proudly as an Australian screenwriter. Director Jon Amiel finds a good script and strong performances easy to work with, creating an intimate portrait mainly set around Darwin’s estate with occasional flashbacks to his voyage on The Beagle. Amiel is clearly adaptable, with work ranging from the forgettable sci-fi The Core to two favourites of mine, the 1986 Singing Detective mini-series, and the hugely underrated The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997).

The lasting impression of Creation is as a testament to the resilience of religion. Darwin and his friends (including Thomas Huxley, played by Toby Jones) believed that the publication of the Origin of the Species would kill God. Over 150 years later, God seems to have taken it in his/her stride.. Today in Darwin’s United Kingdom, only 48% of the population believe in evolution without a divine guiding hand. In Australia, it’s 42% and the United States comes in at 14%. Hopefully Creation will open more minds to Darwin’s ultimate belief in the compatibility of ardent theism with evolution.

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