“Creation”, a film about Charles Darwin’s inner struggle with belief, is apparently not going to be screened commercially in the US – no distributor wants to touch it, because a film about Darwin and religion is judged as too controversial for American audiences.

I haven’t seen the film, so I don’t know if it’s any good; also, films, being visual works tend to simplify complex debates, so I’m cautious . A New Scientist review suggests it might be less than perfect. (then again, they were less than ecstatic about my stuff a month ago, so, you know…). Still, you’d think audiences would’ve liked to be given the opportunity to see for themselves. I understand the film contains no violence, nudity, strong language, portrayal of drug use or teenagers performing unnatural acts with pies. perhaps the director should’ve put some of that stuff in – it might’ve helped with the distribution problems…

The review also mentions leading actor Paul Bettany’s performance as a ship’s surgeon and naturalist in Peter Weir’s 2003 Master and Commander: The Far side of the World, which is one of my absolute favourite performances ever (the DVD of the film effortlessly tops our household’s “most watched” list), and not only because it resonates powerfully with Darwinian history.

Lastly, I find it somewhat ironic that when this very same actor portrayed a murderous monk, the film grossed hundreds of millions in the US.