Peace Movie Night

We reconvened our monthly Peace Movie Night this evening and we ended watching Darwin's Darkest Hour, which is a docu-drama exploring the life of Charles Darwin, starring Henry Ian Cusick and Frances O'Connor.  I brought a selection of movies about Biblical characters, but the group opted for Darwin instead (told you guys I was gonna put that on my blog! :).  Seriously, it was actually a good choice.  The movie centered around the turmoil Darwin faced in his family and professional life just before he had his most famous work, "On the Origin of the Species," published.  That turmoil was brought on by the fact that a rival scientist was on the brink of beating Darwin to the punch in publishing the theories and ideas that Darwin had been developing for decades, and also by the fact that he had two sick children at home, a daughter who pulls through her illness and a son who ends up succumbing to scarlet fever.  Oh, and also the fact that his wife, Emma, is a believer of sorts (National Geographic advertises her as a Christian, but she's a Unitarian - big difference).

As with anything that comes from National Geographic, one must take this little project with a big grain of salt.  You don't exactly get the whole story here, and certainly Darwin is depicted in the best light possible.  But, the acting is good and the story is presented in an enjoyable fashion.  One thing I did find a bit odd was how they had Charles explaining to his wife of nearly twenty years in vivid detail how he had developed his theory, which takes up the majority of the movie and is filled with many flashbacks.  I mean, she's his wife.  She knows the story.  But, I suppose they had to find a way to tell the story to the audience and, odd as that was, it was saved by the good acting, imho.

The best part about the evening was the wonderful discussion we had after the movie about Creation vs. Evolution, etc.  The best movie night discussion we have had in a long while!  So, as I said above, it was a good choice made by the group to watch this flick.

Fun evening, for sure - thanks to all who came out!