'Creation' Expelled?

By CP Guest Contributor, Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Special to The Christian Post

A new British movie on Charles Darwin's life, Creation, reportedly has not found a U.S. distributor to show the film in American movie theaters. (The film is being released as evolutionists commemorate the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his book On the Origin of Species.) According to the film's Oscar-winning director, Jeremy Thomas, the theme of the movie is just too controversial for "religious America."

As someone who has lectured on Darwin for more than thirty years and who has visited his home in England, I was interviewed by ABC News last week for my opinion on the film. I was asked if I thought that the lack of a distributor was due to the fact that a large percentage of Americans supposedly don't believe in evolution, and thus that is the main reason the American movie industry hasn't picked up "Creation."

I told the reporter that such a claim was probably nonsense. If a movie is controversial it would make news, and then someone would mange to have it shown; controversy would probably sell many tickets and make money for the filmmakers and distributors. I doubt that the film's anti-creation/anti-Christian theme is the reason distributors are not inclined to take it.

Consider last year's movie Religulous with host Bill Maher-an anti-Christian, blasphemous movie (with even some nudity)-that was shown in hundreds of theaters across the country. Also, the movie Inherit the Wind, a Hollywood-distorted drama about the Scopes trial that mocked biblical Christianity, was shown widely in theaters (and remains on TV many decades later).

Frankly, it seems to me that if a film attacks Christianity or contains beliefs that are contrary to the Bible, and is well produced, the movie industry in America would jump at the opportunity to show it to the public-if, of course, it would make money.

I also told the ABC reporter that in my opinion, the producer was probably making the claim of finding no distributor due to America's religious views because he wants to create controversy and needs the publicity to help find a distributor. I haven't seen the movie, but I have read a few reviews-and it seems to me from what I've read that it is not an exciting movie. Some have even called it "boring."

Therefore, because it is a film about a rather unexciting man (though Darwin's beliefs greatly shook the world, as our new Creation Museum shows), I don't believe this kind of biographical movie would do well in the theaters. I could, however, see it showing on the History Channel (or similar outlet) as a "docu-drama."

The film will start showing in UK theaters this Friday (it has already had a preview for movie critics in Canada), and we have asked our UK friends to let us know what they think of the film-if they choose to spend money on such a movie.

Adapted from Ken Ham's weblog at www.answersingenesis.org.