Monday, September 14, 2009

No Creation in the US?


For those of us who have been patiently waiting for the US release of the new movie, Creation, it looks like we may be waiting for it to come out on DVD. While this movie is about Charles Darwin, it appears that the film will focus on Darwin's loss of faith after the death of his 10 year old daughter, not so much on his work On The Origin of Species. Unfortunately, for those of us who live in the US where the general population largely does not believe in evolution (only 39% of Americans do), it appears that we will not get to see the film until it is available on DVD since it has not found an US distributor. However, if you are traveling to Bristol for SVP or have other European travel plans, you can see the film, as it opens this Sunday in the UK. The film is also opening at the Toronto Film Festival. It appears that if you are in any country other than the US you will have a chance to see this film! Sadly, the it appears that the untra-conservatives once again have Hollywood scared:

  • "Movieguide.org, an influential site which reviews films from a Christian perspective, described Darwin as the father of eugenics and denounced him as "a racist, a bigot and an 1800s naturalist whose legacy is mass murder". His "half-baked theory" directly influenced Adolf Hitler and led to "atrocities, crimes against humanity, cloning and genetic engineering", the site stated." [link]

Give me a break. To bad Darwin can't sue them for slander.

  • "Early reviews have raved about the film. The Hollywood Reporter said: "It would be a great shame if those with religious convictions spurned the film out of hand as they will find it even-handed and wise." [link]

It is sad to see the US is still living in the dark ages when it comes to free thinking (which it appears is being controlled by conservatives/religious leaders and thier "power" over Hollywood)- in this case of making Darwin's story (or this chapter of his story) accessible to the general US population. I guess that is to risky to the conservative agenda. However, last year a distributor for the creationist film Expelled was found and the film was largely circulated around the US! How can we circulate a film like that and not make the other side of the coin available also!?!

Why not just release it and let the people of the US make up their own mind. Those who do not want to go do not have to go. Who would have guessed that just the name Darwin could invoke such fear!

Hopefully a US distributor who is not a big chicken will be found and we will all have a chance to see his movie that is already getting great reviews!

Thanks to Denver for the heads up on this!


© ReBecca K. Hunt-Foster, poster © BBC Films and the UK Film Council

9 comments:

Mike Keesey said...

What's really weird is that Religulous* had a distributor. If a film that openly criticizes religion can find one, why can't a film about a thoughtful man who neither opposed nor accepted religion?

Or is it that he's English? Could we get a film made about an American agnostic -- say, Ben Franklin?

* Not that good, BTW, although it has its moments.

ReBecca Hunt-Foster said...

Good point!! I have not watched it yet, but it is on my netflix list. Are you going to SVP? Maybe it will still get picked up in the US. Fingers crossed.....

Mike Keesey said...

Can't afford it this year. (I had to pick this year to get married, dammit!) If it gets a limited release I'll still be able to see it -- one of the perks of living in L.A.

ReBecca Hunt-Foster said...

LOL I hear you there. And that is a good pint about being in LA!! If it comes to Denver I will drive over to see it. If you get to see it let me know what you think.

Tor Bertin said...

That's bizarre... it's hard to fathom that 61% of our population doesn't believe in evolution.

Then again, I'm going to college in a very conservative section of Wyoming, so maybe not so much. ;-)

Adam Yates said...

For those of us going to SVP, we should really try and organise a film night and go and see it while we are in the UK.

ReBecca Hunt-Foster said...

Adam, I think there are a few people planning on doing this the last night of SVP before the party. You might check around facebook....

Louis B. said...

It appears a far bigger reason for the lack of a US distributor is that it's not exactly the Bee's Knees.

Karl said...

I have been searching for it and it seems not a single theater within 40 miles of Denver will be showing it! Un-freaking-believable! (This search is for the Jan 22 release date.) Maybe it will come along later.

It seems that the real hangup is with Darwin himself. Christians just can't control their hatred for someone they don't even know. Bill Maher can make them laugh once in a while otherwise so his film was allowed to air - incomprehensible, I know.

What a shame...Shame on the US citizens in general and those "loving christians".