Creating Darwin

Creation is based on the book, Annie’s Box, by Charles Darwin’s great-great grandson, Randal Keynes. If you were captivated by the trailer and attend the film expecting a Dawkins-esque sharp edged critique of creationism you may well leave disappointed. Instead, director Jon Amiel presents an intimate, personal biopic of an extraordinarily human, fragile Charles Darwin (played by Paul Bettany) whose own Christian faith is challenged after the loss of his eldest daughter, Annie.

While his devoutly religious wife, Emma (played by Bettany’s real-life wife Jennifer Connelly), is comforted in believing her daughter is in heaven, an increasingly ill Darwin struggles to maintain faith in a God that would put a premature end to the life of his dearest little girl. In contrast to early rose-tinted flashback scenes of picnics in the country teaching his family about the natural world and recounting his voyages aboard HMS Beagle, a sick, overworked, reclusive Darwin is tormented by recurring visions of young Annie.

Even more than he is worried what his theory might do to society and people who put faith before reason, Darwin is paralysed by the thought of what his work might to his marriage. Despite his own hesitation, Darwin is urged by his friends Thomas Huxley (Toby Jones) and Joseph Hooker (Benedict Cumberbatch) to publish his manuscripts which outline a process of human evolution through natural selection. “You’ve killed God, sir”, Huxley excitedly exclaims, much to Darwin’s discomfort. You see, Darwin was genuinely concerned of the implications such a theory would have on a society held together by religious values. Not to mention, the repercussions for his own family.

The story is skilfully told mixing the past with the present through flashbacks, dreams, and includes a fascinating time-lapse sequence of a decomposing bird which falls from its nest and is devoured by nature. There is a heart-warming scene when Darwin first interacts with Jenny the orangutan where the parallels between humankind and ape are ever so gently performed.

Darwin’s theory of the origin of species can be considered one of the most influential in recent history. Creation doesn’t brush lightly over the topic of evolution, but it avoids giving it the attention many will think it deserves. Rather than fuelling the fire of the creationism vs Darwinism debate, it exposes the man who started it in an intimate and personal light - a man many of us know as little more than a beard. Don’t expect to learn the finer details of evolutionary thinking, but do expect to be whisked away by an outstanding cast in a captivating portrayal of (mostly) historical events - a story of the cruel reality of nature, of passion, redemption, and most of all, love.

Reviewed by C. Alex de Freitas, 19th November 2009.