Filmikaze!

By: Jon Amiel (director), John Collee (screenplay), Randal Keynes (biography)

Starring: Paul Bettany, Jennifer Connelly, Jeremy Northam, Toby Jones, Benedict Cumberbatch, Martha West

English naturalist Charles Darwin struggles to find a balance between his revolutionary theories on evolution and the relationship with religious wife, whose faith contradicts his work.

I can’t attest to Creation’s accuracy in depicting Charles Darwin’s life, but what I can attest to is its shaping that life into something thoroughly engrossing and heartfelt, whatever the reality may have been. The film centers on Darwin’s moral struggle in writing and publishing The Origin of Species, but is also deftly interwoven with the tragic tale of the life, illness and eventual death of Darwin’s eldest daughter, Annie. Annie’s story serves as a kind of microcosm of and counterbalance to the broader moral themes of the film, and it is through her and Darwin’s love of her that the movie has its heart.

As biography it’s extremely well done, but it has considerable strength as a stand-alone film, as well: here is the story of a man struggling against society but also himself, chasing ghosts in a search for answers, and it makes for very compelling stuff. Paul Bettany gives a brilliant and believable turn as the legendary naturalist, and young Martha West is utterly charming as Annie. I’m normally not much of a fan of Jennifer Connelly, but she does a commendable job here as Darwin’s fervently religious wife. It is within her role that I find the film’s only glaring fault, although it has nothing to do with her portrayal.

Again, I cannot profess to have much knowledge regarding Darwin’s life or how any of these events actually transpired, but it absolutely grated the way that Emma Darwin could apparently not be portrayed as having religious faith without being set up as Darwin’s foil and a villain standing between the man and his irrevocably changing the world for the better. Her stoicism makes her difficult to relate to even during what would otherwise be moving shows of emotion, and too late the film tries to imbue her with humanity, not beginning the shift from antagonist to loving wife until the last fifteen minutes. I simply cannot believe that this woman was so horrible as all that, even temporarily, nor that this story benefits from painting her as such. It smacks of covert misogyny and is an unfortunate blemish on an otherwise lovely film.