Review: Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

Some of this documentary from filmmaker Nathan Frankowski is really not much more or less dubiously edited than another 2008 documentary touching on religion from the opposite perspective, “Religulous”, or even a Michael Moore film. The fact that I’m of a different political and theological persuasion to the one documented here doesn’t in and of itself make the film bad (though it makes it more uncomfortable, perhaps), nor can I chastise the film for its underhanded and misrepresentative tactics without at least mentioning that left-wing documentaries often do the same (And I will discuss those issues just as I have in my review of “Religulous”). However, a lot of this film is such a flat-out piece of shit that my own atheist (or at least ‘Agnostic Atheist’) beliefs and viewpoint don’t really come into play at times. It’s just a blatantly dishonest film in some parts (possibly many).

However, what has really inspired me to write this is what Frankowski and former Nixon speech writer (and pop culture icon) Ben Stein (who co-wrote the film and plays the role of Conservative Michael Moore) say in the latter stages of the film. They argue something so heinous, so completely offensive that not only did it make my blood boil, but I can’t imagine too many people out their stupid or ignorant or dishonest enough to not also be offended by it. It taints the entire film irreparably. But I’ll get to that a little later.

The film starts out as a supposed investigation into science academia apparently suppressing any ‘intelligent design’-oriented thought, going so far as to expel reputable scientists for even hinting that they might have theories or beliefs that go against the Darwinian theory of Evolution. It’s totally not an argument that Creationism and Religion need to be taught in all schools, though. Nope, totally not about that at all. <cough>. Actually, I think that’s exactly what this film is saying. Stein and Frankowski want you to think they’re championing the cause for a fair and balanced discourse, but in reality they’re using the Creation vs. Evolution debate to argue against Atheism, Abortion, and just about anything Conservatives don’t like. It’s blatant propaganda, bringing up organisations like Planned Parenthood, and most abhorrently Nazi Germany into a debate that has absofreakinglutely nothing to do with those things.

Meanwhile, the right for Intelligent Design to be taken seriously and studied in academia, is clearly just a ruse, either that or the filmmakers are incompetent. You see, Intelligent Design is barely (if at all) explained in the film, and not only is ID regarded by many as just Creationism in sheep’s clothing brought about because a court case in 1987 basically rejected teaching of Creationism in schools because no science was involved (thus ID was created to get around it) but it’s completely obvious (especially considering the political climate in and around which the film was released in the US) that the filmmakers are really championing the cause for Creationism (i.e. God as Creator) to be brought back into the school syllabus in science class (Isn’t science about facts, though? Hence why such things are best left to theological studies). And then throwing a few defective grenades at Charles Darwin while they’re at it. The film is shameless, even moreso than many left-leaning politically-minded documentaries, but more importantly, it’s full of flat-out bullshit. Any goodwill Mr. Stein might’ve had as a pop culture icon playing comically boring-arse teachers in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and my favourite TV show “The Wonder Years” (as a science teacher, no less!) is completely obliterated by the end of this poor excuse for a film. Oh, but we’ll get to that in due time...I promise.

The film’s narrative alone is completely incoherent (unless you look for the real, ‘hidden’ narrative underneath it all that I mentioned earlier). It starts off with Stein playing investigative journalist trying to get to the bottom of all these supposed firings of scientists who dared take an interest in Intelligent Design theory. But then all of a sudden it becomes about ID vs. Atheism. What the hell? Apparently, the filmmakers equate science with atheism, which is completely misleading. I’m an atheist but not much of a ‘Darwinist’. I believe in Evolution, but it doesn’t explain everything about everything, so to be Darwinist solely would be stupid. If Evolution is true, then surely thought and study evolves too, so it would be dumb to say ‘Darwin is right. The End’. Someone, at some time, is going to advance things further, and indeed many other scientific theories are out there that the makers of this film want to pretend don’t exist. There are plenty of scientists out there who have some kind of religious belief, but I’ve read several times that an Associate Producer of the film has said that several scientists with religious faith were excluded so as not to ‘confuse the film unnecessarily’ The funny thing is, for all the talk of ID in the film, there’s barely any discussion on the actual scientific merits of ID itself. Say what? Atheism and Eugenics are explored, but ID? Nah, can’t be bothered with that, except it’s totally real, though, and like totally science and all! Uh-huh.

Worse still, if the film were really about the scientific community’s shun of any investigation into theories other than that of Evolution, we sure as shit don’t get any details on just what it was that these so-called ‘expelled’ scientists said or wrote that got them fired. Except that they may have in some way inferred a belief or interest in ID. There’s actually a reason for this, though. If you do any research online at all (and I’m not talking Wikipedia or far left-wing sites), you’ll realise that the claims put forth by this film about those expelled scientists are mostly (if not completely) bullshit. One guy was already finishing his tenure at his University anyway, and two (Michael Egnor and Robert Marks) apparently weren’t even fired at all! Either this is shithouse investigation/research by the filmmakers, or just flat-out deceit and propaganda. By the end of the film, I was in one camp far more than the other on that.

As I eluded to earlier, Stein is very much playing the right-wing Michael Moore/Bill Maher here, especially the former. Stein narrates the film and presents himself as a humble everyday American (albeit a bit of a nerdy-type), contrasting himself with Atheist scientist Richard Dawkins (playing Charlton Heston to Stein’s Moore) who is seen getting pampered and caked in makeup for their big climactic interview. Stein comes off as either the most cynically patronising phony baloney (acting with mock surprise or disapproval about things he clearly already knows), or is doing a parody of Moore so dead-on that it flew over my head. Apparently Moore did use the makeup thing in “Fahrenheit 9/11”, but I honestly don’t remember it, though my memory of the film is hazy at best. Once again, though, everything else in this film suggests the former situation rather than the latter. For starters, the filmmakers use the phony argument that ‘Darwinists’ and their Evolution theory are wrong because they can’t explain how life began. Um...Evolution has nothing to do with how life began. But then, the filmmakers know that of course, they just don’t want you to know that. So I wouldn’t want to give anyone behind this film enough credit for such clever and accurate parody when they blatantly just get shit wrong here.

Worse still, the interview with Dawkins is so heavily edited that it does a disservice to him, Stein, and the film. I’m willing to listen to any argument, but don’t try to bullshit me or I’ll call you on it. Stein and Frankowski probably think they’ve got themselves a ‘gotcha!’ moment here when Dawkins appears to be stating that an intelligent design is possible, but it doesn’t take a genius (or scientist) to see that Dawkins isn’t really saying anything of the sort, and the interview excerpts come off as shameless manipulation to get their subjects to say the desired sound bites. Fair’s fair, though, I hated Michael Moore’s shameless bullying tactics towards a then likely Alzheimer’s afflicted Charlton Heston in his otherwise excellent documentary “Bowling for Columbine”. Both Moore and the filmmakers here use shameless tactics, and both should (and have been) called on it. However, Moore is a deliberate partisan filmmaker, always has been, and more often than not (i.e. Just about every time except the Heston incident) he’s just being a naughty boy, as anyone who has followed him since his TV days (if not “Roger & Me”) would know. With Moore, you know what you’re getting, he’s giving you his point of view and isn’t necessarily trying to give you an absolute truth. Stein and Frankowski, however, frame the film in the form of an investigation, rarely use humour, and a lot of what is said here is an all-out lie.

Stein and Frankowski also bandy around the term ‘Darwinism’ far too much and far too freely for my liking, to the point where they may as well have just said ‘Godless Liberal Hippie’, because that’s exactly what they’re really saying. The thing is, you don’t have to be a ‘Darwinist’ to not consider Intelligent Design to be science (especially given how little science this film actually includes), anymore than you have to be an atheist. Stein and Frankowski don’t care about that, though, nor will the choir they’re basically preaching to. However, I hope that even the choir have a problem with where the filmmakers take things towards the end as Stein and scientist Dr. Richard Weikart makes links between Darwinism and Hitler! They argue that Hitler was an atheistic Darwinist (Stalin also gets a plug via video footage, by the way!) and the tragedies of the Holocaust are linked in with Darwinist teachings and principles, as well as Eugenics. Any basic knowledge of Nazi Germany or Hitler will tell you that this is complete crap, and profoundly offensive (Not to mention that anti-Semitism was around long before Hitler. Martin Luther in the 14^th Century, anyone? Seriously, was any research done for this film at all? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?). I’m shocked that the normally intelligent (not to mention JEWISH!) Stein would fall for such utter BS here. Hitler believed that atheism was a Communist and Jewish materialistic thing (and Stalin believed it was Capitalistic, and thus rejected it too), and he actually used religion (Remember the Reich Church, Mr. Stein?) to his own evil purposes. The guy made his own damn church up to serve his own dogma. That doesn’t mean he was religious (although he was believed to have been raised Catholic and in “Mein Kampf” expresses beliefs in Christianity). Hitler, the Nazis, and the Holocaust had absolutely nothing to do with religion, except an anti-Semitic stance, of course, and the phony proclamation that he was doing ‘God’s work’. Hitler would use and distort anything and everything in order to exterminate the Jews, his religion, if anything, was Nazi Propaganda, he preached hatred. At the very least his religious views were complex, reportedly contradictory, and to be perfectly honest, entirely irrelevant. Stein and Frankowski should be outright ashamed of themselves, and as Stein disingenuously affected a sombre tone in this segment of the film, I just wanted to vomit. I was outraged and deeply offended (I’m disabled, and remember, us disabled folk were victimised by the Nazis too!). Any possible legitimate argument that the filmmakers could’ve been making (even considering how confusing the argument has already thus far seemed) is entirely obliterated by this foolish attempt at hyperbolic, propagandist scare-mongering. Oh sure, Stein tries to convince us that he’s not making any direct link between the two, but that’s as half-arsed as you can get to say the least. He’s making the link, you know it, I know it, and he sure as hell knows it, he just doesn’t want any lawyers to know it. Unfortunately for them, it still earned them the ire of the Anti-Defamation League for their efforts.

As for the eugenics tie-in? Well, if you do your homework, you’ll find there’s as much of a connection between eugenics and churches (especially in the US) as there is between eugenics and the theory of Evolution. Moreover, the film misappropriates Darwin’s thoughts on eugenics practices by leaving out very important sections of text in quotes given in the film, which I’m really surprised was a level the filmmakers would stoop to, even considering the Nazi connection. I mean, it’s just stupid because even a 5 year-old could go and look this stuff up and realise they’ve been misled. And that’s one of the reasons why these tools are no Michael Moore, as Moore may be a partisan filmmaker, but he’s also a pretty effective filmmaker. These guys are hacks looking to get some political cheap shots (playing the Fox News ‘guilt by association game’ that was used in regards to then Sen. Obama with his apparent ties to extremist personalities) in to help their ultra-Conservative cause in the short term.

I really don’t know what to say, folks. I may be an atheist (or a combination of atheist and agnostic), but even I would’ve at least listened to a fair argument about scientists being fired for their belief in an alternate theory of scientific understanding. I’m all for a healthy debate, y’all. I also could understand a discussion that put forth the idea that there is an entity/being/force out there that created this Earth, even though I don’t believe in any religious interpretation of such a ‘creator’, nor do I necessarily think they are a living, on-going presence. Unfortunately, the filmmakers don’t put forth a convincing argument for their initial argument due to a combination of distortions, flat-out lies (that are easy to uncover), and a whole wealth of extraneous material that gets us away from the initial point and has one realising that the original point wasn’t the point at all. This is right-wing propaganda for the Creationist/anti-abortion/‘prayer in schools’ movement, particularly in the US, and it is obvious. Worse still, it’s just a poorly made film that even likeminded folk surely can’t defend if they have even a shred of honesty about them. The attempt to connect Darwinism to atheism and ultimately Nazism and eugenics is truly abhorrent and deeply upsetting. This is a terrible film, no matter what your belief system may be.

Rating: D