So many books, articles, and documentary films have been produced about the life of Charles Darwin that it is difficult to keep track of all the Darwiniana, but the recently-released feature film Creation is something special. It is not a straight biography, nor is it an entirely fictionalized account. Instead it is an amplified version of a challenging time in Darwin’s life which largely eschews intricate details in favor of broad, powerful strokes.

Viewers hoping for a 100% historically-accurate dramatization of Darwin’s life will be disappointed from the very first scene. The film opens with Darwin telling his daughter Annie about how the captain of the HMS Beagle, Robert FitzRoy, convinced the Fuegians of Patagonia to trade three of