Creation - A Film About Darwin The Man

Fundamental disagreements about the nature of existence, and love, are not often compatible. Love is not transcendent, and it must cope with practical, moral and philosophical (in the broadest sense of the term) disagreements. In a letter to Darwin from his wife Emma, she presents her worries about her husband’s increasing doubt. Her fears were undoubtedly those of a sincere and loving wife; one that wanted to see her husband in the afterlife. Famously, Darwin wrote at the bottom of that letter “When I am dead, know that many times, I have kissed and cried over this.”

This extremely personal (now public) side of Darwin is the focus of a new film entitled Creation. Young Freethought was invited, along with several other bloggers, to an online chat with director Jon Amiel. During the course of the film, Amiel said of Darwin that he had “grown to love him”. The film is largely sympathetic to a man it portrays as a sometimes distant but always loving father.

Darwin saw the cause of the fear his wife possessed about his place in the ‘hereafter’ as “a damnable doctrine”. Darwin’s unique understanding of the acerbic viciousness of “nature red in tooth and claw” naturally led him to doubt the benevolence of any supposed creator. But he needed not have sought evil in nature, for Darwin’s Victorian life was scattered with corpses. After the death of what was affectionately his ‘favourite’ child Annie from Scarlet Fever aged 10, he wrote "We have lost the joy of the household, and the solace of our old age”.

In 2000, Darwin’s descendent Randal Keynes published Annie’s Box. A book based on a collection of memories Charles and Emma kept of their beloved daughter that Keynes stumbled across (what a find!). Scriptwriter for Creation John Collee would use this book as a source for the film. Annie is a somewhat ominous figure throughout Creation, returning as a manifestation of Darwin’s fears and sorrow. A blur between fact and fiction is a recurring feature fans of Darwin will notice. Though such liberties are mostly executed with care and tenderness, some fictitious signposts provided by the film seem quite unnecessary.

To anyone familiar with Socratic humility, reading The Origin of Species is like discovering Socrates’ great lost work. Darwin goes to extraordinary pains to explain the weaknesses of his theory. And though Amiel was quite right in stating it is “a difficult book to plough through”, in it, Darwin embodies the scientific ideal of dispassionate pursuit of knowledge, whilst retaining his humanity and gentle nature. It seems to me that Darwin was undoubtedly a complete English toff (though Amiel disagrees), but without caricaturing the man, he can safely be said to have been a loveable one. Creation is a worthwhile endeavour, executed well. Its subject matter is universal and touching, always compensating for one or two weak points. Amiel certainly seemed to possess a deep solidarity with Darwin’s ghost and others too, will see why after watching this film.

Creation is out on DVD in the UK and is released in American cinemas on Friday.

Don’t forget, the question of the success of 2009 as Darwin’s year is still a suggested topic for submissions!