An atheist sings the praises of Creation

The Charles Darwin biopic Creation contains one of the most robust defences of atheism and agnosticism ever to appear in a mainstream film, says Ariane Sherine
21.09.09, GUARDIAN (UK). From the Book of Genesis to Haydn's great oratorio, the concept of "creation" is inextricably linked to the whole "built-world-in-six-days-then-had-a-nap" shebang. For this and countless other reasons, John Collee's resplendent cinematic homage to Charles Darwin will doubtless ruffle the made-in-a-day feathers of evolution deniers around the world – if, as currently seems unlikely, it can find a US distributor. The film is based on the biography Annie's Box by conservationist Randal Keynes, one of Darwin's great-great-grandsons. It spans the years between 1841, just after the birth of his beloved daughter Annie, and 1859 – as he submits the only manuscript for On the Origin of Species, worryingly placing the most revolutionary idea in the history of thought on the back of a rickety old cart.