Ron Howard and his A-list cast vividly portray the moral degradation that ensues when a scientist earnestly pursues Utopia on a remote island. It’s a stark cautionary tale about the consequences of rejecting God and enshrining human understandings of salvation instead. Unfortunately, viewers must sit through two hours of ugly actions, full-frontal nudity and foul murder.
In 1929, German doctor Friedrich Ritter and former patient Dore Strauch left their spouses, running off to look for isolated obscurity. They found it on Floreana, an uninhabited island in the Galapagos archipelago.
This island felt like the perfect place for Ritter to concentrate on two important things: He would face down the hardships of nature, unencumbered by money and society. And he would write an intellectual treatises designed to point mankind to a better tomorrow, not one ruled by money, but by the mind!
Upon their arrival, Ritter and his mistress fight off wild animals, blood-sucking insects, ravaging heat and torrential rains as they carve out their homestead. Then, just as the struggling pair has found a little footing in the place and settled into an uneasy routine of survival and writing, the Wittmers show up.
Unbeknownst to Ritter and Dore, news of their adventures—witnessed by boat captains who delivered occasional shipments of food and mail—had made it into the world’s newspapers. The couple was even dubbed “The Adam and Eve of the Galapagos” by the press. And indeed, the Wittmers are the first to harken to the call of a new idyllic life in nature, apart from war and want.
However, former WWI soldier Heinz Wittmer, along with his young, second wife Margret; and his physically ill son Harry; have no concept of what life can be like on this isle of volcanic rock and thorny vegetation. This is a hard place; it’s no Eden. And for that matter, Ritter and Dore are in no mood to help invaders of their peace. Dr. Ritter flatly refuses any help when Margret discovers she’s pregnant.
Oh, but that’s just the beginning of the story.
Soon, an Austrian woman who calls herself “The Baroness,” Eloise Bosquet de Wagner Wehrhorn, arrives with her two lovers in tow. She, however, doesn’t come seeking the beauty of nature or enlightenment of the mind. The Baroness’ goal is great wealth.
With her adoring men and a gaggle of workers, she plans to build a resort that will cater to an exclusive millionaire clientele. It will be called Hacienda Paradise. And it will be as perfect as she herself claims to be.
However, neither of the two previously established camps appreciate the Baroness bathing in their sole water supply or her tendency to throw loud, drunken sex parties at night. And her lofty, foolish plans to draw the very wealth-driven people whom everyone else detests doesn’t sit well with them either.
It appears that there’s about to be trouble on this rocky slice of paradise.
The only people in this story who come off in a relatively positive light are the Wittmers. And that’s only because Margret earnestly tries to love her husband and hold the family together. (That said, Margret and Heinz are still part of the terrible things that happen on the island, even if indirectly.)
During one of his intellectual tirades, Dr. Ritter makes his beliefs in humanism clear, as well as his disdain for religious faith. “For most of human history we have tricked ourselves that a better life exists just beyond our grasp,” Ritter opines. “Christians call it heaven. Hindus call it nirvana. Muslims call it paradise. I call it a lie. … God is dead, there is only man.”
Someone calls the Baroness “the devil.” Dore compares Ritter’s work to the Bible but declares that in his case it’s “much more than a book.”
Early on we see Ritter and Dore having sex. They’re both naked, and we glimpse them in silhouette. We also see closer shots of them from the shoulders up. Later, Ritter wants to unnerve the Baroness by purposely meeting her while totally unclothed. The camera gazes on as he stands unclothed and completely visible through the entire scene. The Baroness isn’t shocked in the slightest.
We see the Baroness’ form as well, covered only by a wet, translucent and clinging shift. We also hear her and a partner (or two?) joining in loud sexual activity on a couple different occasions. (Heinz sends his son off to gather items and steer him clear of the drunken sexual partying.) When she first arrives, the Baroness runs into the waves, rapturously embracing and kissing her two lovers.
Ritter and the other men on the stiflingly hot island often go shirtless.
We see people laboring in difficult conditions and swarming insects. Several animals are killed, including Dore’s pet donkey.
As tensions on the island rise, simmering anger inevitably boils over into violence. Men fight and pummel one another. A character with a pistol breaks into the Wittmer’s house to steal food and is about to shoot Margret before his attention is drawn elsewhere.
The Baroness slaps someone, and he slaps her back. One of her unclothed lovers runs out to pummel an intruder. An individual’s hand is impaled by a small blade. He then wrenches the blade out and attempts to drive it into his attackers’ open mouth. Someone is stabbed repeatedly on his bare side, leaving gaping, bloody wounds. Another character is gorily shot in the head, facing the camera.
Dead bodies get thrown off a cliff side to conceal a murder. A man is purposely poisoned, and he dies in writhing agony. A woman’s tooth is yanked from her mouth with a pair of pliers.
A woman goes into nearly incapacitating labor pain—her water breaking and running down her leg with a mix of blood—while she’s being hunted by a pack of wild dogs. She’s backed into a corner where she screams violently and gives birth to her child while standing. The dogs move in to attack before being shot and sent scattering.
The dialogue contains about a dozen f-words, a handful of s-words and one profane blending of God with “d–n.”
The Baroness and her crew drink heavily. And a wealthy American shows up with bottles of wine and alcohol that everyone shares at a large dinner together. Several people smoke cigarettes.
A woman’s breast is visible as she breastfeeds.
Early on, Margret assumes that Ritter and Dore are married. Dore balks at the idea, declaring that “Marriage makes you sick!” Ritter states that governments in the world are all a part of the same corrupt, repeating cycle. “Democracy leads to fascism lead to war,” he proclaims.
We see Ritter slowly dig a wriggling insect out of Dore’s leg. The Baroness speaks of her modern-woman-free-from-moral-boundaries beliefs. She also declares, “I no longer have patience for men who question my ambitions.”
The Baroness also asks young Margret about why she would marry such an older man like Heinz. “He’s like a boiled turnip,” she opines. The Baroness befriends and encourages teen Harry as he recovers from his illness. But she uses that connection to pump him for information about his family’s food supplies. Then she sends her men to steal the food.
The Baroness also talks about the similarities between dogs and men. “First you must hurt them. Then nurse them back to health. And voilà, they love you forever.”
Ritter steals food and supplies, but Dore balks at his actions. “That’s not who we are,” she cries. “I want to live by the principals you laid out.
Ron Howard’s Eden is based on a true survival story that many won’t know. Dr. Friedrich Ritter did indeed run away from the fascism he saw blossoming in 1929 with a determination to craft a new doctrine that would “save humanity from itself.” He wrote a philosophical treatise on a new human pathway to utopia.
What is the meaning of life? Ritter asked. Pain. In pain we find truth. And in truth, salvation.
There’s an irony to that statement, for Ritter’s Galapagos Island tale is one of anything but salvation. In fact, it illustrates the trouble with utopian ideals: When mankind is given over to its painful base nature without Godly faith and moral structure, it doesn’t end up creating a lofty heaven at all. Instead, it crumbles into a self-made hell of envy, self-piety, debauchery and corruption.
Ron Howard and his A-list cast of actors portray that moral degradation vividly in Eden. The movie delivers, even if by accident, what amounts to a stark cautionary tale for interested viewers.
Of course, those viewers have to sit through two hours of ugly actions, explicit nudity and foul murder. So, there’s that to consider, too.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
