Ron Howard about his survival drama “Eden”: Civilization escape is not an option

In a episode of the new Apple+comedy show “The Studio” Seth Rogen plays a studio boss who does not bring about the heart of saying Ron Howard (in a cameo) that his heart project has been exaggerated. The conflict over artistic freedom escalates in a friendly threat to murder from the nicest person of Hollywood. The joke that Howard willingly plays here is perhaps even a bit symptomatic in the current situation of the US film industry for the career of the director’s veteran, whose last films were only seen on streaming platforms (Netflix, Amazon).

“Eden”, his first movie since “Solo: A Star Wars Story” from 2018, at least suggests that Howard has revised his old formula. There are no longer heroes in the classic sense, none of the characters invite you to identify. You observe your bizarre hustle and bustle rather fascinated, conditioned by series such as “White Lotus” or the new-rich satire “Triangle of Sadness”. A few Germans have emigrated to the island of Floreana in the Galápagos Archipelago island in the aftermath of the First World War and pursue their project of a new society in accordance with nature.

German dropouts in the Pacific idyll

But the old civilization diseases cannot be shaken off as easily. Already with the arrival of Heinz and Margaret Wittmer (Daniel Brühl, Sydney Sweeney) and her sick son Harry, factions form on the island. The dropout guru Dr. Friedrich Ritter (Jew Law) and his Ms. Dora Strauch (Vanessa Kirby), who suffered from MS, did not want to see any people at all. But the enthusiastic deposit, which the would-be-nietzsche knight occasionally sends to Germany, find a loyalty in the distant homeland.

When a sex -positive baronin (Ana de Armas) ends up with her boytoys (Felix Kammerer, Toby Wallace) and a charged weapon on Floreana to build a luxury hotel, Darwin’s theory is tested by the right of strength for her practicality. Not all islanders will survive this conflict of interest.

Howard came to Berlin for the premiere of “Eden”. At the interview at the zoo, he wears Hollywood Casual (jeans, shirt, jacket, peaked cap) and is in a good mood. Before the interview, he grabs a few chocolate biscuits from the table in the hotel room with visible enthusiasm, through which the journalists are pushed every quarter of an hour. When asked how serious the situation is, if Ron Howard is already exploring the dark side of the human psyche, the 71-year-old has to laugh. “Do I have to worry about the state of the world? Or rather my psyche? I know it, honestly, not. This cloudy morality was simply interested. It is a recognition of all our weaknesses – and a few strengths. And then of course the irony is that this moral lesson took place on the place, on which Darwin developed its principles about the origin of the species.”

Because as bizarre the story of “Eden” sounds, it is based on real events. There are two certificates about what happened on Floreana in 1934 – both of not necessarily reliable narrators. Margaret Wittmer’s memoirs, who died on the island 25 years ago, and Dora Strauch continued to fuel the rumors and theories about the so-called Galápagos affair: Georges Simenon wrote a novel inspired by the events, there were plays, Wittmer-Homestorys and a documentary with the voices of Cate Blanchett and Diane Kruger.

But of course the crazy history only comes completely when you film beautiful people like Jude law, naked and with steel teeth (knight removed your teeth to prevent infections), and Sydney Sweeney at the struggle for survival in the jungle. Howard came the idea 15 years ago on a family trip to the Galápagos Islands, which impressed him sustainably. “This place, the rawness of nature, has something very original. But it also interferes with respect.”

The nature of man under extreme conditions

Howard still thinks he understands that in this place the essence of man in its most extreme form comes to light. “These characters are greater than life. And the audience learns to accept the bizarre of their behavior.” Farce and tragedy are close together in “Eden”. You have to see Jude Law and especially Ana de Armas that their performances do not always find the right measure. Howard may also be a little too nice with his actresses.

After all, the premise of “Eden” is the traumatic experience of the First World War, which washes the Germans to the banks of Floreana. That is why his historical drama, despite 15 years of development, also has a certain topicality. Is emigration in view of the political circumstances for Americans a realistic option? “I never want to leave civilization,” says Howard very seriously.

“I want to be one of those who stay and help to solve the problem. But I know this feeling that there are a lot of people in the USA who think. Our society and the core understanding of our national identity are put to the test, this is incredibly destabilizing.

A few years ago, Ron Howard, who was friendly, but certainly waved off when you ask him about the current references of his film, came into contact with American politics. His film adaptation of JD vances as a rising biography “Hillbilly-Elegie”, which was to explain the mentality of the conservative core residents to the elite coastal Americans, has now turned out to be a blueprint for Trump’s Maga Revolution.

Howard explains that in retrospect he does not feel deceptive by Vance that he was primarily interested in the “survival story of a young man from simple conditions”. The book was strongly politicized at the time. “At that time, JD still publicly criticized the Trump government, even though he was a republican. But people change, circumstances change. I would never have seen that come.”

Howard welcomes the fact that “Eden” is read by many another half a year after the US election. Basically, JD Vance is a very typical character in a Howard film. About his figures in “Eden” he says that people can never escape their own strengths and weaknesses, which he carries around with him. “However, these properties do not make up our society, only the people who are in their lives.” Actually not a very trusting summary. But it sounds much less threatening from Ron Howard’s mouth.