What do Writers Watch?

I just saw the movie Creation about the life of Charles Darwin. Have you heard of this movie? I don’t have television, so I don’t know what movies get promoted in commercials. I’m guessing that Creation didn’t get much publicity because there were no vampires, no computer graphics and there was only one copy of the shelf at Blockbuster.

I loved it.

And I have three confessions:

1. I only selected it because I was bored, nothing else appealed to me, and it had Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connely on the cover. (One of our Smashing friends thinks she looks like Paul Bettany, so I was curious.)

2. I almost hit the off button several times during the first 30 minutes, but I was too lazy to get out of bed, so I kept watching. Then Darwin reached out of the screen and grabbed my heart out of my chest. I pleaded the rest of the movie for him to put it back.

3. The orangutan made me cry.

I loved this movie on so many levels.

I love a movie that shows me the complex dimensions of a person I previously viewed as a flat image from a textbook. I’d only consideredDarwin as the writer of Origin of Species, but never considered his family life, his personal faith, his inner conflict over contradicting the church. My husband said, “I always thought Charles Darwin was an atheist.”

I loved the movie’s focus on Darwin’s family life, his relationships with his wife, his close friends (including the town minister), and his daughter (oh, my heart is breaking again thinking about his daughter).

I loved the orangutan.
Anyone who can make a movie where the orangutan makes you cry has got mad movie-making skills.

The movie was based on the book, Annie’s Boxwritten by Darwin’s great-grandson Randal Keynes.

I love catching a gem like this that is easily passed over.

What other good, non-mainstream movies do you know about that I could add to my movie treasure chest? I especially love great books-turned-into-movies.

Happy evolving!

mw