Eden is a Ron Howard film based on real events. I don’t want to say true events, because the only accounts of the events from those who survived tell very different stories.
Eden is an over two hour long film that looks at the absolutely implacable them or us nature of human beings. It’s set in the 1930s when Nazism was rising in Germany and looks at three sets of people who seek to escape on a remote island off the coast of Ecuador.
The first people there were Ritter (Jude Law) and Dore (Vanessa Kirby). He was writing a book he thought would save the world. She was a true believer in his theories. They built a ramshackled shelter and planted a garden. Their spring was one of only two fresh water sources on the island. Dore had MS and she thought Ritter and his theories about meditation and sex would cure her.
Ritter was sending letters with his description of life on the island and his ideas for the future of mankind back to Germany. They were published in the German newspapers. He became famous enough that Heinz (Daniel Brühl) and Margret (Sydney Sweeney) brought their family there. They thought they were moving to paradise. Nope.
While Ritter sat as his typewriter all day proclaiming himself a genius, Heinz and Margret worked all day. They build an irrigation system, a sturdy rock home, captured a wild cow for milk, and kept chickens. They were doing just fine.
The third arrival was Baroness (Ana de Armas) with her two boy toys (Felix Kammerer and Toby Wallace) and her plan to build a luxury hotel for millionaires on the beach. The baroness only had one skill – using sex to get what she wanted. When that didn’t work for her, she was ruthless. There was no water. She ran out of food. She didn’t mind taking what others had.
That was the dynamic on the island. Not everyone survived. We struggled through two hours of slow dissolution of moral norms. We also saw Margret give birth alone while being attacked by wild dogs. We saw wild boars make dinner out of carefully tended gardens. Guns and knives were waved about and not everyone survived.
Two of the survivors wrote books. Their stories told opposite versions of what happened. Ron Howard and his co-writer Noah Pink picked a version they believed and favored it in the movie. But the cards at the end showed that they really didn’t know what happened.
Eden is a grim and brutal story about human failings. A kind of Lord of the Flies featuring grownups. The cast was excellent and the three women all gave inspired performances. That wasn’t quite enough to earn it a top rating from me.
I’m sure it will be watched because of the cast and the director. I’m not sure it will be loved by everyone who watches it.
You can see it on Netflix. If you watch it, please share your opinion about the film.
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