Darwin Biopic to Kick Off Toronto Film Festival

The Toronto International Film Festival describes the film as

Part ghost story, part psychological thriller, part heart-wrenching love story Creation is the story of Charles Darwin. His great, still controversial, book The Origin of Species depicts nature as a battleground. In Creation the battleground is a man’s heart. Torn between his love for his deeply religious wife and his own growing belief in a world where God has no place, Darwin finds himself caught in a struggle between faith and reason, love and truth.

The Darwin we meet in Creation is a young, vibrant father, husband and friend whose mental and physical health gradually buckles under the weight of guilt and grief for a lost child. Ultimately it is the ghost of Annie, his adored 10-year-old daughter, who leads him out of darkness and helps him reconnect with his wife and family. Only then is he able to write the book that changed the world.

The film stars “real-life couple Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly as Charles Darwin and his wife Emma.”

CT Movies notes,

Some viewers may recall that Bettany played another early-19th-century naturalist in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World — only there, his character seemed okay with the idea that God and evolution could co-exist. It will be interesting to see if these two ideas are presented as complete opposites in Creation, or if any common ground will be allowed between them. (If the film is co-presented by Mel Gibson’s Icon Films, how atheist could it be?)

Should be interesting!

(Via CT Movies)

Good Website – Artsandfaith.com

I discovered this site when I read that Image magazine had recently acquired it.  Looks like a great resource for anyone interested in the intersection of faith and the arts.  Image gives a good summary of its features:

A&F has been around for a number of years and is particularly strong in the areas of film and music—which makes for an excellent complement to Image‘s strengths in literature and visual art. For example, A&F’s Film forum contains over 5,000 posts with nearly 80,000 replies! The range of discussions is wide, from responses to recently released films, CDs, and books to conversations about issues like the shrinking of print criticism in magazines and newspapers. Current hot topics include Angels and Demons and Rachel Getting Married in film, mewithoutYou and “New Stuff Worth Hearing” in Music, and Columbine and the late David Foster Wallace in Literature and Creative Writing. A&F is also a great place to learn more about what’s out there and what’s soon to be released. For you writers out there, the section “Work in Progress” is a terrific place to share your work and get critiques from fellow writers [Emphasis mine]. And there’s an announcement section where you can post information about your upcoming conferences, exhibitions, concerts, and more. We’re hoping that you will not only come on over to ArtsandFaith.com but register and post there, too. Don’t just be a lurker: dive on in and join the fun! Our existing Image Forum will be integrated into the A&F board shortly. Register at ArtsandFaith.com.