Review: 'Creation' uses even hand with 'blasphemous' material

“Creation”
Directed by: Jon Amiel
Starring: Paul Bettany, Jennifer Connelly, Jeremy Northam, Toby Jones, Benedict Cumberbatch, Martha West
Rated: PG-13

When Martin Scorsese's film adaptation of the Nikos Kazantzakis novel, “The Last Temptation of Christ,” came out in 1988, there was an outrage.

My wife was managing the Northtown Theater at the time, and she got a number of calls from people who all said the same thing: “If you show that movie 'The Last Temptation of Christ,' I won't never come to your theater again.”

It was obvious the people who were upset had gotten their talking points from somewhere other than their own experiences.

The film never played in Springfield. We drove to Kansas City to see it. The people who were dead set against it were completely uninformed. (Maybe “ill-informed” is a more precise term.)

It's silly to criticize something you've never witnessed.

But times have changed, I guess. The film “Creation” is the story (some fact, some poetic license, I think) of Charles Darwin during the time he was struggling with his masterpiece, “On the Origin of the Species.” He also was struggling with the death of his child and the differences he had with his wife, a devout creationist.

It's amazing that people didn't come out to protest this movie. The film is blasphemous. But that's part of the story's point.

The title card at the beginning (and I'm paraphrasing) says that Darwin's work is the most important thing ever written.

Darwin was a scientist but also a person constrained by the mores of his time. His observations were shocking at the time, and shocked even Darwin himself.

Paul Bettany, as Darwin, sweats his way through the movie with utter confused grace. Bettany's wife, Jennifer Connelly, plays Mrs. Darwin in the film, and their chemistry cooks to a boil.

While he struggles with his “heresy,” she struggles with her faith. And they struggle with their love for one another.

The subplot, and it is a sad one, concerns the Darwins' daughter, Annie, played by Martha West.

She's the love of Charles' life. While she doesn't quite understand his theories, or him for that matter, there is an implicit connection between the two that creates an emotional impact. It's apparent that one of the reasons Charles wants to figure out the things that obsess him is so that he might give Annie some answers.

There is an obvious “science vs. religion” theme running through “Creation,” and it rings true.

Darwin's works were radical at the time and director Jon Amiel deals with the drama with an even hand. No one – not Charles the scientist, nor Emma the creationist – get more credit or short shrift.

As far as looks go, think of the Merchant/Ivory films. “Creation” has that sort of classic English look and feel. It's lush. And it draws the viewer into the setting.

It may be past its run at The Moxie by the time you're reading this review, but it's recently been released on DVD.