Creation: a movie review by DesDownunder

Creation, directed by Jon Amiel and starring Paul Bettany as Charles Darwin, with cinematography by Jesse Hall, is an outstanding movie made with great attention to detail, both in the personal life of Darwin and his family, as well as insight into the times in which they lived.

The past limitations of writing, medicine and belief, the remains of which are for some of us, barely a lifetime ago, are carefully, brutally but honestly, and sensitively visited in a way that allows us to see the potential renaissance of our own existence, and be thankful we no longer need to use quill pens and ink, or take cold showers.

Truly, one cannot help but feel the struggle of liberation for human awareness from previous captivities, for liberation also evolves, and does so in each of us if we will but allow it to occur.

The film does not shy away from the nature of its own premise, or the impact that Darwin's work will have on the faith systems of his time (and thus ours,) but it does so in observation rather than be argumentative . The torment is in Darwin's mind and as such we can perhaps see it more clearly because we have had the benefit of Freud's work. (I cannot guess what the reception for this film is like in cultures restricted to doctrinal education, or where text books are censored.)

The movie is a vision in itself, complete with human relationships, and also an objectivity befitting the subject and a cinematography of great beauty, both of which are, in effect a homage to Stanley Kubrick, at least it is for me, and as such, is its own interwoven revelation of grandeur and wonder of life.

Anti-Darwinists, and those who oppose evolution, may not find their view being expounded in Creation, but they are surely in need of being encouraged to see it, if only to discover the sheer beauty to be found in this intelligent Creation.