I got ahold of a review copy of "Creation," the film about Charles Darwin that has been eagerly awaited everywhere but the United States Of America, that bastion of intellectual freedom that is the only country on the planet where it had difficulty finding a distributor.
Is it sappy, and a romanticized view of the life of Charles Darwin? You betcha. The film focuses not on his theories but on the *personal cost to him* of having those theories. This, after all, was a quiet scholar who did nothing more than create theories based on his own careful scientific observation. For this, he was characterized and vilified as "The man who killed God." He still is, 147 years later. The film opens with these words displayed onscreen: "Charles Darwin's 'The Origin Of Species,' first published in 1859, has been called the biggest single idea in the history of thought. This is the story of how it came to be written." Paul Bettany as Darwin and Jennifer Connelly as his devoutly religious wife deliver heartbreakingly beautiful performances. It is important to remember that for every new and seemingly heretical idea, there is always a "price to be paid" for having had that idea. That's what this lovely -- and loving -- film is about. The opening scene -- with Darwin trying to entertain his young daughter while some photographer with a stick up his butt is trying to photograph her -- is particularly relevant to recent discussions, He tells her the story of one of his voyages, when the captain of the ship he was on traded a few beads and trinkets for three native children. One died on the way back to England, but the other two were taught "manners" and Christianity and were actually presented to the king and queen. Two years later, the original captain took them back to the place they had been taken from, fully expecting them to serve as "good examples," and help to convert the "savages" to the benefits of civilization and Christianity. The kids dumped their clothes while still on the beach and ran to join their real families, naked. One can only imagine the tales they told them in years afterwards about the *hubris* of these True Believers. Oh, that I live long enough to see "King" Tony's two kids do the same thing...
