:Warning May Contain Spoilers:
Last night I saw the new Ben Stein movie Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed. It is in a genre I like to call Docu-ganda or a documentary with an agenda. If you have ever seen any Michael Moore films you know what I am talking about. I like this genre because even when I disagree with the premise of the individual movie it usually draws out interesting conversations about controversial topics.
At it’s core Expelled is about the theory of intelligent design (ID). The movie follows Ben Stein around the world as he interviews scientists that have lost there job for giving credit to the theory. Ultimately the movie makes the case that by disallowing the theory of intelligent design from intellectual circles we obstruct the scientific right of free inquiry. It ends in an uncouth comparison between the modern American scientific community and Nazi Germany. I liked the topic and I would agree with the general premise. However, there were a lot of problems with this film.
I have heard reviews that say this movie was an argument for Intelligent Design. They are greatly mistaken. Little time was spent on the actual theoretical concept it was all about the people who have gotten kicked out of the science community. It would have been a stronger film if they spent more time to define Intelligent Design. Ten minutes of diagrams and commentary about Intelligent Design in the beginning of the film would have helped. It also did not spend much time reviewing Darwinian evolution. The interviewed scientists talked about the elegance of evolution or the gaping holes but no one ever explained what they were. This made it hard to follow the debate that was at the heart of the film.
Also, It wasn’t funny. A keystone to a good docu-ganda is humor because it differentiates the film from a dull college lecture. Ben Stein usually portrays an intellectual comedian. He is the one that gives the film credibility. Going into the film I was hoping for a lot of his dry wit. There were numerous attempts at humor but they all fell flat. Primarily the film would punctuate it’s arguments with clips from 1950’s newsreels and movies. It was an attempt at a funny retro feel for the movie. What it did instead was vilify the Darwinians in an unfair manner. They were compared to things like Frankenstein and Communism. These attempts on humor back fired. They made the audience feel that this movie was simply mean spirited.
The movie lacked direction. I do not mind a few rabbit trails along the way if the issue is interesting enough. Exposed never built toward anything. Sicko called for health care reform. Inconvenient Truth was an argument for environmental action. Walking out of the theaters for those movies you could talk about reducing carbon emissions or establishing national health care. You would suppose Expelled would be a call towards more scientific freedom of inquiry but what does that mean? It never drew a picture of what the world would look like if the premise of the movie was universally accepted. It never gave the viewer a direction to go after the show was over. Application points are key and if you are going to make a movie that is challenging authority you should have a better concluding thought than “I don’t know what’s next.” Which is essentially what this movie said.
This movie makes me want to watch a better movie about the subject; one that is not sloppy with its themes or reckless in it comparisons.
