Expelled the Movie - Ben Stein Exposes Flat World Academics
By Michael Bresciani (05/02/08)
Ben Stein's 'Expelled' could properly be called 'Exposed the Movie'
because it is a nerve rattling jolt to academicians who are ready to
bounce or ostracize anyone who so much as mentions or has a dream in the
night about the theory of intelligent design.
No movie review in history as far as I know starts with instructions about
how to watch the film. Expelled is a documentary and contains hundreds of
interviews and deep conversations with some of the most highly regarded
minds of the time. It has a rhythm and a depth that requires full
attention and you may want to forgo the popcorn, soda and other
distractions.
You will also discover something radically different about this film from
the audience reaction. It has been reported that people applaud sometimes
throughout the film and in some theatres it ends with audiences rising to
give it a standing ovation.
I found myself applauding along with other theatre patrons when I saw the
film. It was proof solid for me that while Americans are being asked to
get the nonsense of religion out of their heads the idea of an omnipotent
creator God is still firmly planted in their hearts.
Frivolous lawsuits are being thrown at the producers of the film from
animation companies and John Lennon widow Yoko Ono. Neither suit seems to
have any foundation but the flak from every academic quarter is ample
proof that a nerve has been touched. Is the film fair, is it reasonable,
and is it intelligent? Not only is the answer yes, yes and yes but the
film is yet something much more, something rarely found in a documentary.
It is emotionally charged.
Ben Stein is marvelous in the film. Known more as a comedian he doesn’t
poke fun at anyone and rarely resorts to humor throughout the documentary.
It is clear from the outset that he is not arguing or contending with
others views but only imploring them to seriously ponder their own
unquestioned assertions. He does this with a straight face and the fewest
words possible. The result is obvious; these questions are no joke.
Near the end Stein is found quietly standing alone with his own thoughts
in the middle of a holocaust museum. His thoughts are narrated in the
background and they are perhaps the most profound moments of the film.
Stein has conducted himself discreetly and some might say masterfully
throughout the documentary so at the films conclusion nothing is lost.
The heart of the movie is easy to see. Academics have for a generation now
fed us the idea that the big bang theory and the subsequent lightning
hitting the primordial ooze is the only way to go when it comes to the
question of how life began.
The rapid rise in intelligence in this generation has caused completely
unforeseen phenomena that academicians are not prepared for. It is not
just faith in God that makes the question bubble to the surface but our
own enlarged understanding of the complexities and vast intricacies of our
own universe. The admonition to question all authority that academics so
blithely espoused to young minds a generation ago has returned to bite
them on the butt. It is the intelligent that are questioning the not so
intelligent refusal of the intelligencia to give some credence to
intelligent design; not doing so is just dumb.
This generation understands that when science leaves the area of
repeatable and observable phenomena and relies on speculation and ‘prior
philosophic postulation’ to explain the origins of life they have entered
the realm of faith. Physical evidence for evolution remains spurious,
sparse and suspect at best so speculation is all that is left to explain
what took place four hundred million years ago. The evolution crowd has
been thumping “The Origins of Species” with evangelistic fervor that makes
the best Bible preachers look tame by comparison. This is what Expelled is
about.
The implacability of the evolutionists is compared to the Berlin wall
throughout the film. Nazism and communism are also alluded to for the most
obvious reasons. A party line must be held and enforced for any kind of
fascism to have a reasonable chance to survive. The cost of fascism has
always been the loss of freedom. Expelled centers in on this by likening
the refusal to include the possibility of intelligent design to
incarcerating intelligence not furthering it.
Expelled hones in on the loss of academic freedom, jobs, tenure and
respect for many of those interviewed in the film but it also provokes the
larger question of the number of young minds lost to this generation
because of what is fast becoming rigid Darwinian dogma. Move over
inquisitors here come the evolutionists!
One of the highlights of Expelled is the interview with famed atheist
Richard Dawkins. It may be the only time you will ever see Dawkins visibly
perturbed and almost at a loss for words. Ben Stein managed to pull what
might even be considered an admission from Dawkins that some intelligent
designer may have created everything but that he, she or it would have to
have evolved first. The double talk aside it is a moment well worth the
ticket price alone.
Most movies are rated on a scale of one to five or in some cases a scale
of one to ten. I will not rate this movie at all. What I will do is rate
the ‘must see’ element of the documentary. Whether you are an evolutionist
or a believer of “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
(Gen 1:1) if you consider yourself even nominally intelligent the must see
factor for Expelled on a scale of one to ten is twenty.
For a list of theatres playing Expelled or further information visit
http://www.expelledthemovie.com/home.php
Rev Michael Bresciani
(Printer friendly version) Email: Michael Bresciani
