Salina Art Center

Conversation with Art Neuberger and Phil Meckley Sunday, April 18 at 4:00 pm at the Art Center

The poster shows Paul Bettany (as Charles Darwin) touching the fingertip of a chimpanzee, in obvious parody of God giving life to Adam in Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam” panel upon the Sistine Chapel.  The image accomplishes two things: it warns religious conservatives that they probably won’t appreciate Creation; and it suggests a humorous, irreverent tone toward what remains a highly-charged, emotional debate about the origins of humankind.  This is rather a disservice to the film, because director Jon Amiel and screenwriter John Collee treat religious issues with great sensitivity and compassion.  Based on Annie’s Box, an intimate biography of Darwin written by Randal Keynes (a descendent of Darwin’s),  the film takes an unusual view of the 19th century naturalist whom Thomas Huxley claimed “killed God” by writing On the Origin of Species, the first major publication applying theories of evolution to the human race.  Darwin is not depicted as the cold-hearted, rational scientist who possessed no feeling for how his work might affect society.  He is presented as being extremely conscientious, and still grieving from the recent death of his ten-year-old daughter Annie.  Interestingly, Darwin’s wife Emma (Jennifer Connelly) is a very conservative Christian who believes in the literal story of Genesis; it is for her sake as much as society’s that Charles delays publishing his groundbreaking work for years, despite the pressures of friends like Huxley (who, by contrast, seemed to relish the idea of sparking religious ire).  The film focuses on the relationship between Charles and Emma (Bettany and Connelly, married in real life, have a realistic chemistry): how they deal with the implications of Charles’s theories serves as a microcosm of the imminent struggle between “Creationists” and “Evolutionists.”  Their conflicts, however, could be resolved (Charles and Emma were married for over 50 years, until his death), and director Amiel is particularly interested in how and why.  The question could be simplified for the multiplexes: Can the Father of Evolution and a staunch Christian get along in the same household?  Yes, maybe it could be played for laughs, like the poster implies; but maybe the joke is that there shouldn’t be such enmity anyway—has the theory of human evolution really “killed” God, after 150 years?  No, not really.  And the filmmakers suggest—as Emma Darwin eventually realizes—that the expansion of scientific investigation is an inevitable process, one that can’t be stopped by suppressing the work of a single individual.  Charles Darwin has been demonized so thoroughly that Creation might be forgiven if it went too far in the other direction to balance the scales; to the film’s credit, Darwin’s not presented as an impossibly idealistic, high-minded, moralistic hero in the tradition of popular biopics of “Great Men.”  He’s neither devil nor angel; neither chimp nor Superman.  Under Amiel’s sensitive direction and aided by Bettany’s down-to-earth, likeable presence, Darwin is a recognizable human being, struggling with his conscience, always trying to do the right thing and please everyone around him.  The film’s an excellent corrective to the notion that Darwin was oblivious to the social and political maelstrom that his work’s publication would bring.  We discover that the decision to present On the Origin of Species was not made lightly.  It was a moral dilemma worthy of Hamlet’s famous and eloquent vacillations, and of greater significance and impact on today’s world.  The challenge of dramatizing a primarily internalized struggle is daunting, but Creation is both intellectually and emotionally involving.  The film is boosted by great performances by Jennifer Connelly as Emma, Jeremy Nothern as a friendly clergyman who tries to dissuade Charles from publishing his work, Toby Jones as Thomas Huxley, and Martha West as the Darwins’ adorable, ill-fated daughter.  The film’s greatest achievement is addressing controversial issues head-on, but treating every character with respect and understanding—a lesson that viewers on either side of the debate can appreciate.