Eden, is an idyll that always keeps coming back into our philosophical musings. It is the concept of the perfect human habitation. What comes to mind for you when I say the word “Eden?” Lush, beautiful nature scenes, harmony, or eternity perhaps? Writers and poets are always drawn to the topic of Eden as they endeavor to contemplate mankind’s origins, potential and the human condition.
Eden is the perfect place that God created for us that is mentionned in the first book of the Bible. It was a place where God and mankind had a perfect harmony. (Adam walked with God in the cool of the evening). Everything needed for our physical sustenance was all around us and it was for free. We could eat and drink and have our fill.
Famed director Ron Howard was inspired to make the movie “Eden” after visiting the Galápagos Islands. One of the islands in the Galápagos Island chain is named Floreana. In stark contrast to the enchanting stories of finches and giant tortoises, the story of Floriana is a bit more sordid. I wondered if Ron Howard was having some sort of midlife crisis since this movie did not match the usual fare that I have come to expect and enjoy from the directorship of Mr. Howard.
He tells stories of people in crisis. Whether it is in outer space or in mental illness, those stories represent mankind’s greatness, struggles and they usually end with the ultimate victory over challenges. I always feel happy after his movies. So, why was he delving into a mysterious murder in the tropics, I don’t see Opie* that way.
You may wonder why I would choose to do a movie review as opposed to cover the spiritual battles of the world as it goes through paradigm shifts, wars, natural disasters, and spiritual confusion? Could it be that I need a break? Maybe. But, you already know me better than that. I can’t just watch any movie can I now? No, I have to go and watch a grossly under-appreciated and overly philosophical movie and then ponder it.
Here I go again. The film Eden has a lot to say about our out of control societies and the development of a new world order. In other words, it has relevance for us today. The movie “Eden” is based on real events that transpired in the late 1920’s. It tells the story of three ex-pat groups that purposely stepped away from the civilization that they knew to start all over again on an uninhabited island.
What were they looking for and does the idea have any appeal to you at the moment? To begin with, Dr Friedrich Ritter was practicing medicine in 1920’s Germany. He was enamored of the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzche and one of his patients who had multiple sclerosis. He believed he was going to advance the work of Nietzche and develop a template for the next stages of the human journey. This would change the world. Hitler had that idea too. There is the hint that his lover Dore Strauch will find health giving aspects on this island Eden. Theirs was a relationship of a most unconventional nature. But, anything goes on this island.
Then there are the Wittmers, a family comprising a hard-working World War I German soldier who was disillusioned with post World War I Germany. His first wife had died, his son had tuberculosis and his life as a middle class bureaucrat did not afford him the luxury of being able to afford treatment for his sick son. Could “Eden” be a healing place for his son? His second wife Margaret starts out as a character just along for the ride until she becomes pregnant and must deliver the baby under harsh conditions thus bringing out some motherly warrior instinct.
Then there is the character who is looking to be the queen bee of the island. She’s as bad as she wants to be and doesn’t hide it. Like a queen bee she is in charge, sexually active with all the male (drone) bees and trying to build something, in this case a luxury resort.
The events in 1920’s Europe seemingly inspired the formation of the characters and their decision to dramatically step away from the society, the family and the life they had once known. Yet they brought their philosophies with them and begin to build the same problematic world on Floreana that they had left behind. Ideas of the next stages of humanities progress were all around them and the desires of a new world order were afoot and each character reflects this in one way or another.
At that time, the ideas of Marx, Nietzche and Sartre among others were being mined as a source for societal change. The discontent, the longing for a perfect world was palpable everywhere.The Russians had tried to make their perfect utopia in their Revolution of 1917 with its’ desire to bring the masses to full equality and into the modern age. What befell the Russians in search of that utopian dream is deep and dark and they still have not emerged from the disaster of that utopian dream.
Some of those ideas of Utopia would cause those in Germany to imagine a solution to their post World War I economic problems. The next World War would see the quest for the perfect world played out and ensconce the entire world in the process, Japan and its’ imperial history, the Arabs moving towards independence, the Italians with socialism and the United States who would have to make decisions about continuing in isolationist tendencies. All would be effected.
The high-rolling stock markets, music and flapper culture of the 1920’s did much to inform the character of the Baroness in this movie. The intellectual cauldron, and the social unrest all were at play when three groups decided to stop the current trajectory of their lives and start anew in their quest to create their own version of Eden. The problems started immediately. Don’t they always? Doesn’t anyone read the Bible anymore because the quest for utopia always plays out the same way. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome.
As King Solomon opinied, “there is nothing new under the sun” and this movie surely confirms that thought. Russia is doing the same old thing with Ukraine. The North Koreans are trying to have their own version of Eden and the Chinese just keep pushing their principles forward, no matter how wrong they are. They have been doing this for a very long time. According to the Bible, they will continue what they are doing until they will reach the disastrous end stage of mankind’s perpetual revolving door of insanity. It is caught like some planet in an orbit of destruction where it will eventually crash and burn. Don’t believe me? The rejection of God’s law did not bode well for Adam and Eve. The Russian Revolution whose godless regime tried to replace God with the state epically failed.
Each of the islanders thought they would win too. Their particular versions of utopia conflicted with each others and a fight soon ensued for their beliefs and the scarce resources (this seems like what is happening today doesn’t it). The fight for survival whether it was in their European homeland or on an uninhabited island can not be overcome through wars, murder or manipulation. The island of Floreana, as depicted in this movie soon became a mini-United Nations with seemingly ridiculous and yet imperative conflicts breaking out. In this story, those differences end in murder, treachery and a fall from Eden.
It’s always the same. This movie and the events that occurred in 1929 in no small ways seem to mirror events that are currently occurring on the word stage. There is one instant of male frontal nudity, a sex scene and a lot of lovemaking noises comes through tents but, it is all so distasteful that it’s enough to make you return to a more Christian model of sexuality. I choose to follow Jesus and this movie and the dysfunction that I see in the world helps me to realize that this is the best choice. “Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.”- Psalm 37:5
❤️❤️ God bless you.
* Opie is a childhood role that Ron Howard played on the “Andy Griffith Show.”
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