Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Seraherrera The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

pointyfilippa The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

DavidJGDoyle I... Really don't know how I should feel about this movie. If you wanted a film about Darwin's work in this film; it fails miserably and falls hard. VERY LITTLE about Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection (ten minutes all up from memory... if that).That said, when it comes to his relationships to his friends, peers and especially family (one of his daughters and wife specifically); the film is not just successful, it is just TRIUMPHANT! I actually forgot that the movie was supposed to show Darwin questioning nature, the bible, etc. It is just a brilliant drama about a husband and father...But for a film that's meant to be about Darwin's societal changing theories which lead to more scientific methods and acceptance to other beliefs about how life works, the movie focuses WAY too much on personal relationships.That said again, I was so invested with Darwin's family story that when a few scenes happened (I won't spoil anything here), I cried-no, BAWLED my eyes out! It was just so heart wrenching!This brings me to another surprisingly strong point in this movie: The acting! The performances from the entire cast is nothing short of magnificent. If this was an original film with all ties to Darwin dropped: I guarantee you that Paul Bettany would have won best lead actor at all of the major award ceremonies, he was just that compelling. I believe the same thing would have happened with Jennifer Connelly too. She was very solid as well, I could really feel her hardships. Of course Benedict Cumberbatch was good (it's Cumberbatch for God sake, what did you expect?). Teresa Churcher, Jim Carter, Bill Paterson-Large part, small part, everyone was in top form. But the one who really stood out was Martha West... WOW did she steal the show! She was so free spirited, charmingly eccentric and when the role called for it, physically feeble to the point where you wanted to call the Make-A-Wish foundation. Why she is not in more films is both a mystery and an insult to me. What a terrific talent!So to sum it up: It has little to do with Darwin's science and a lot about Darwin's personal relationships... and the latter is surprisingly terrific!If you want a film to do with Darwin's theories; there are other films that did it so much better. For those who want the slice of life tale about a man and his family; this is in my top 5... Maybe even my top 3.

petarmatic These types of films are excellent! It is a shame they do not make them more often.I am really interested in Charles Darwin and his work. This film gave some insight in what he did and how he lived. It follows a very interesting period of his life, and a very interesting conflict he had between atheism and religion after his work was made public.Cinematography is great and plot is interesting. Costumes are excellent and acting is excellent as well.I would recommend this film to anyone who wants to study Charles Darwin and his work, as well to the general public.A very good film.

ma-cortes This is a biographical film about Darwin (Paul Bettany) and family , focusing mainly his period when he wrote ¨Origin of species¨ and his suffering when his daughter died . As English naturalist Charles Darwin struggles to find a balance between his children , revolutionary theories on evolution and the relationship with religious wife , whose faith contradicts his work . The Darwins had ten children together : two died in infancy, and Annie's death at the age of ten had a devastating effect on her parents. Charles was a devoted father and uncommonly attentive to his children. Whenever they fell ill, he feared that they might have inherited weaknesses from inbreeding due to the close family ties he shared with his wife and cousin, Emma Wedgwood (Jennifer Connelly) . He examined this topic in his writings, contrasting it with the advantages of crossing amongst many organisms .This interesting film concerns about a global revolution took place within the confines of a small English mansion . Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly portray perfectly husband and wife in the movie, and are actually married in real life. The picture relies heavily on the relationship between Charles Darwin and his daughter Annie ,both of whom were ills , in fact , Anne Elizabeth "Annie" Darwin's death (2nd March, 1841 - 23rd April, 1851) may have been caused by scarlet fever, or tuberculosis as some may believe and it is often thought that apart from his illnesses, Darwin may too have had Ménière's disease. As Darwin was devastated when his daughter Annie died , issue well shown in the movie . It also includes some flashbacks about his voyages aboard HMS Beagle .The film contains a colorful cinematography by Jess Hall and evocative musical score by Christopher Young . The motion picture was well directed by Jon Amiel (Entrampment , The core , Copycat , Sommersby) The flick is based on real events , dealing with life , investigations and writings , these are the followings : Darwin established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors, and in a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding.Darwin's wide reading Malthus's An Essay on the Principle of Population, he noted its assertion that human "population, when unchecked, goes on doubling itself every twenty five years, or increases in a geometrical ratio", a geometric progression so that population soon exceeds food supply in what is known as a Malthusian catastrophe. On the Origin of Species proved unexpectedly popular, with the entire stock of 1,250 copies oversubscribed when it went on sale to booksellers on 22 November 1859 , overcoming scientific rejection of earlier concepts of transmutation of species .Darwin's scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences, explaining the diversity of life . Studies at the University of Cambridge encouraged his passion for natural science. His five-year voyage on HMS Beagle established him as an eminent geologist whose observations and theories supported the publication of his journal of the voyage made him famous as a popular author . Darwin was critical of the Bible as history, and wondered why all religions should not be equally valid. In the next few years, while intensively speculating on geology and transmutation of species, he gave much thought to religion and openly discussed this with his wife Emma, whose beliefs also came from intensive study and questioning . He considered it "absurd to doubt that a man might be an ardent theist and an evolutionist" and, though reticent about his religious views, in 1879 he wrote that "I have never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God. –I think that generally , an agnostic would be the most correct description of my state of mind- . The Darwins had ten children . Despite his fears, most of the surviving children and many of their descendants went on to have distinguished careers .

Steven Patterson The is no grand point to this Anglophile psychodrama, just a supposed glimpse into the private world of a man nearly annihilated by the theory he developed. Unresolved guilt divides him from the comforts of faith, friends, and family until a cathartic quack treatment allows him to grieve the loss of innocence personified in his daughter, and restores his libido.Bettany's previous role as Dr. Stephen Maturin so resembles Darwin that this seems almost a sequel, though of a completely different genre. Connelly as his effectively estranged wife adds a voyeuristic piquancy to an otherwise ironically "supporting" role.