Expelled:
No Intelligence Allowed
Review
Ben Stein’s movie, Expelled, is a
documentary promoting one thing: there is a ‘wall’ in our society today that is
taking away our freedom. That one is free to express their opinions as long as
they are on the right side of the wall. After watching the film, I was still
skeptical as to whether or not there is, in actuality, a ‘wall’. I needed look
no further than the reviews on the movie. On iMDb, a website I love, and use
very much, the movie got a 3.7/10 user review (an EXCEEDINGLY low number
considering some horrifically bad movies get 6’s and 7’s), and a 13/100 from
critics. When I saw the ratings, I laughed out loud. As I started to read the
reviews, it became very clear to me: Expelled
is on the wrong side of the ‘wall’.
The reviews of the movie completely
blow the entire thesis of the movie out of proportion, and twist it so it seems
to be an anti-freedom movie. A particular review by Vadim Rizov, entitled “Ben
Stein, Propagandist’ (read the full review here: http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-04-15/film/tracking-6/)
states, “His thesis: Teaching Darwinian evolution but ignoring intelligent
design in America's public schools and universities is the biggest threat to
American freedom today—bigger, presumably, than Al Qaeda, Iraq, and the
recession combined.” After reading this review, I thought, ‘It didn’t seem like
that was the thesis to me,’ so I re-watched the movie. This review was so far
from correct, it is almost mind boggling that the website hasn’t removed it.
Nowhere in the entire movie is Al Qaeda, Iraq, or the recession even motioned,
much less portrayed as not important. Also, not teaching Intelligent Design was
not what Stein claimed was threatening our freedom today. He merely used not
allowing the STUDY of Intelligent Design as an EXAMPLE to promote his true
thesis: that the people leading Science today will not even allow discussion
about what they don’t like, or don’t want. At the end of his review, the
author, once again, stretches the movie, claiming that the movie says
Intelligent Design’s “...scientific opponents, meanwhile, are potential
Communists and Nazis.” That’s not what the movie says. Stein clearly states in
his movie that he is NOT saying that all Darwinists are Nazi’s, “nobody is saying that” he says.
While the Internet is riddled with
extremely violent reviews, that merely prove Ben Steins point, one particular
website caught my attention. Yes, that’s right, there is an entire website
devoted to crashing down on Ben Stein, called expelledexposed.com. The website
claims that “…this movie is not a documentary at all, but ANTI-science
propaganda aimed at creating the appearance of controversy where there is none.”
That’s not what I got from the movie. The movie gave extremely clear examples
of people losing their job because they mentioned the possibility of
Intelligent Design. The review is right in some sense: that there is no
controversy. But the reason there is no controversy is because those on the ‘right
side of the wall’ won’t allow any arguments come up from the ‘wrong side of the
wall’.
So after all this, what do you think? Let me know...