The Special Relationship vs Creation

Five points:

1) Period drama is one of my favorite kinds of stories.  Partly because I believe the past, while no golden age to be missed, is also no dark age to be shut of.  People in the past, to me, are people just like me - though in movies, they're usually a lot prettier, smarter, and more powerful (and have more money).  The Special Relationship, dealing with the relationship between Tony Blair and Bill Clinton, and Creation, treating Darwin and his wife's relationship, are two very different period dramas.  One is edgy, full of handheld camera movement, hallucinogenic moments, frank sexuality, and stark religious and political pontifications.  The other is elegant, crisp, carefully framed, with the occasional crudities used for emphasis, and politics and morality treated in a very ironic, sublte manner full of greys.  And, surprisingly, the former is the one set in the 1800s, the latter set in the 1990s.  I prefer the latter myself, as I find the grace of well-planned camera movement combined with strong acting (which, to be fair, is a definite strength in both films) much more appealing than "gritty" "energetic" run-and-gun style editing and shooting techniques.

2) Politics, religion, and sex.  All three figure incredibly prominantly in both films.  The politics of Darwinism and how it is propagated appear starkly and with few nuances in Creation - the extreme supporters and detractors are both presented as boors, though Jeremy Northam is allowed some grace as the religious opponent who tries to maintain friendship with Darwin, while Toby Jones as Darwin's Bulldog, T. H. Huxley, is a complete jerk.  However, in The Special Relationship, Blair, Bush, their advisors, opponents, and wives all appear as extremely flawed but also extremely gifted and often very idealistic individuals, making you wonder just how to take Clinton's ending monologue about how evil his successors are, after his own leadership has been tarnished by both sexual misconduct and public dishonesty.  One great thing about the film is that it made me question how much of my own antipathy for Clinton was actually based on politics rather than morality - not an easy thing to do for one as firmly conservative as myself.  A similar approach to religion and sex pervades the two films - Creation showing religion in an almost Marxist "crutch of the weak" simplicity and sex as a purely romantic reconciliation between Darwin and his wife (played very touchingly by real life husband and wife Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly).  The Special Relationship, in contrast, shows the complexities of marriages between flawed humans in both the Clinton and Blair families, as well as Blair's struggles to work out his religious faith in light of his political convictions.

3) Music - Creation features a score by frequent Marvel Comics film scorer Christopher Young, in a rather unmemorable background.  The Special Relationship managed to secure Alexandre Desplat, who has been consistently given higher and higher profile projects in the past two years, and who composed for the previous film about Blair by the same production team, The Queen.  While not nearly his most lovely work (I personally think his score for New Moon is my favorite for lyrical beauty, if a bit simplistic), he suits the modern, high-pressure world of Anglo-US politics with a style very similar to that found in the film preceding The Queen, The Deal, which had many lovely minimalistic elements and a strong pop flavor, while maintaining really beautiful moments of orchestral melody, such as Hilary's exiting the car after Bill's confessions, and the Clinton's farewell at the end of the film.

4) Background: Peter Morgan, writer of The Special Relationship, has written dramatic, sometimes criticized for accuracy but often lauded historical recreations of several major political events, including his two precursor to The Special Relationship "Blair Trilogy" The Deal and The Queen (the latter especially being inredibly powerful), and other excellent (by repute - I've not had the chance to see them yet) period films such as Frost/Nixon and The Last King of Scotland.  Jon Amiel, director of Creation, a story about the birth of one of the most controversial scientific theories in history (though its supporters claim it is no such thing - either theory or controversial), directed one of the most incredibly moronic scientific thrillers in the past decade, The Core, in which completely made up metal protects completely flat characters from completely implausible disasters caused by evil (presumably conservative) governments.

5) Overall rating.  Creation is a shrill, black and white, overall rather incoherant and silly film featuring quite fine performances and quite annoying directing.  The Special Relationship is a uncomfortable, powerful, beautiful, mature film (if a bit overly compressed at times to fit the enormous issues and complexities of the subject) marked by brilliant performances and solid craftsmanship.

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