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Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

By Skylar Wagner
Film Major, Biola University
March 1, 2008

I had the privilege of attending an advanced screening of Ben Stein's new documentary, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed last week which is scheduled to be released in the theaters on April 18. Expelled is an interesting and thought-provoking look into important academic freedom issues currently facing our nation. Stein travels around the country interviewing college professors, scientists, editors, and journalists who have lost their jobs or been persecuted in various ways for challenging Darwinism or showing an interest in intelligent design. We see how free inquiry of these professionals, and others like them, is being prevented at every turn by academic, scientific and media institutions that have adopted a Darwin-only worldview.

From the beginning of the movie with old black and white clips of the Berlin Wall being erected, and a rather classy rendition of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall", the film concentrates on the violation of freedom of thought and freedom of speech. Stein proceeds to interview several college professors who have been fired or forced out and then blacklisted because they have mentioned intelligent design at work. Some of the cases are surprising as we learn the details about how their freedom has been violated and why they were "expelled" from their jobs. In most cases the institutions did not think that intelligent design was a valid scientific theory. Stein then interviews several Darwinists to show us that the theory of evolution does not have all the answers either. Hundreds of scientists were interview for this film and Stein travels around the country and around the world seeking to understand. There are a wide variety of interviews and the information is easy enough to follow but at points can be kind of confusing to those not familiar with the subjects. After Many interviews and stops Ben heads to England for a final showdown with lead Darwinist, Richard Dawkins.

Expelled presents a good look at specific problems with academic freedom in our country. It shows us a dark side of our country that many do not know exists. This is a documentary that delivers not only eye-opening information, but entertainment as well. There are many clips from old movies thrown in to accentuate a point that keep you smiling in your seat. The documentary does take a few cheap shots at Dawkins, as he seems to be the butt of many jokes. There is a curious excitement as we follow Ben around, and even through his monotone voice you can tell he is passionate about what he is doing.

What Expelled does best is stay away from conflict. It is not a preachy documentary trying to prove to us that intelligent design is right and evolution is wrong. The film is not one sided, and provides just as many interviews with Darwinists as it does with ID theorists. The point of the movie is to show us that freedom to challenge or examine an establishment viewpoint is being prevented. It does this very well; leaving the viewer with little argument that freedoms haven't been violated based on very specific evidence.

Although the movie is very interesting overall, it loses its excitement at points. After several interviews and opinions on similar matters, I started to lose a bit of interest. The film did not keep me enthralled the whole time as it drifted off towards the middle. But once Ben started traveling again I was immediately interested in where he was going and who he would be talking to.

Expelled is a movie anyone interested in the debate about our origins or the debate about our freedoms should see. It is also a movie for anyone who does not know much about the arguments for Darwinism or Design and would like to learn more. It presents information on both sides in an interesting and tasteful manner. At the end of the movie, I was not persuaded that ID is true and evolution is false, but I was persuaded that the freedom of many to investigate the issue has been violated, which is something as an American, I am very interested in.