Creation

Given that presidential candidates can still express disbelief in evolution without fear of ridicule, maybe we really do need a Darwin biopic that seems aimed at schoolchildren. On one hand, Creation takes on the interesting task of looking at the pressures that Darwin faced in publishing On the Origin of Species. (Or as one of the movie’s fellow scientists so helpfully puts it, “You’ve killed God, sir!”) On the other hand, the idea’s the thing, and sometimes Great Man movies are not nearly as earth-shaking as the notions their subjects advanced. Observe as Young Charles teaches an orangutan to scribble. Cringe as he torments his children by forcing them to watch a fox kill a rabbit. Sigh as his relationship with his God-fearing wife (Connelly) deteriorates.

Handed a plum part, Bettany goes through the rote inspiration-struggle-triumph arc with his usual aplomb. The movie ends with the publication of the book rather than depicting the reaction, which in some ways means it elides the most interesting part. The competition among scientists, too, might have provided the film with a more novel angle; a few fantasy sequences notwithstanding, Creation proceeds with the stolid predictability of hagiography. Maybe creationists have more in common with Darwin than they think.

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