Product Details

• Actors: Ben Stein, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Richard Sternberg, Mark Souder
• Directors: Nathan Frankowski
• Format: Color, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Premise
• DVD Release Date: October 21, 2008
• Run Time: 95 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001D2WUAC
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #43,607 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Big science has expelled smart new ideas from the classroom ... What they forgot is that every generation has its Rebel! That rebel, Ben Stein (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) travels the world on his quest, and learns an awe-inspiring truth … that educators and scientists are being ridiculed, denied tenure and even fired – for the crime of merely believing that there might be evidence of "design" in nature, and that perhaps life is not just the result of accidental, random chance. To which Ben Says: Enough! And then gets busy. NOBODY messes with Ben.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, but dishonest, December 22, 2008

By	Marcus Lewis (Alaska) - See all my reviews

Expelled is an entertaining movie, but careful research of the facts will leave you feeling very disappointed with the content. Expelled is similar to any Michael Moore documentary. Entertaining, but factually challenged and deeply flawed. This review is long, but it is necessary information
for a productive "Expelled" watching experience.

The premise of the movie is that the "Darwinist" will not allow anyone to question evolution and will ruin the careers of anyone brave enough to believe in God. The first half of the movie talks about supposed academic silencing and bullying of several scientists and reporters. They include Richard Sternberg, Guillermo Gonzalez, Caroline Crocker, Robert Marks, and Pamela Winnick. The second half of the movie implied that most scientists who believe in evolution are atheists, and that evolution and its' atheist spawn are responsible for Hitler, Communism, and eugenics.

Now for the facts:

Claim: Dr. Sternberg was fired at the Smithsonian and as editor of a scientific journal for publishing an Intelligent Design(ID) article.
Truth: Dr. Sternberg was not fired. He gave his resignation six months before he published the ID paper and that month was scheduled to be his last as editor. He dishonestly circumvented the peer-review process. Dr. Sternberg was an unpaid research assistant at the Smithsonian whose contract was renewed for three more years after the ID paper controversy.

Claim: Caroline Crocker was fired for merely mentioning ID at George Mason University.
Truth: Caroline Croker was also not fired. She was only contracted to teach one class for only that semester, and her contract was not renewed. She has been steadily employed since then, contrary to her testimony.

Claim: Dr. Gonzalez was denied tenure because he wrote an Intelligent Design book.
Truth: 25% of professors in that department do not receive tenure when going before the board. Three other professors who where evolutionists also did not receive tenure. Dr Gonzalez published few papers, brought in few research grants, and none of the graduate students he advised graduated. He also specifically requested that his ID book be considered as part of the tenure process.

Claim: Baylor Professor Robert Marks was forced to destroy his website that Baylor hosted because it mentioned ID.
Truth: Baylor (a Baptist University) temporarily shut Marks site down because it implied Baylor supported Intelligent Design (ID) and that Marks operated an ID laboratory (untrue). Baylor then said that they would still host it if Marks simply put a disclaimer on the website that Baylor did not endorse his views and he was not operating a laboratory. Robert Marks refused.

Claim: Newspaper reporter Pamela Winnick was fired and blacklisted because she wrote about Intelligent Design.
Truth: Winnick continued writing in that paper for over two years after the supposed "career ending article". She has since published a book and written articles for The Wall Street Journal and The Weekly Standard.

Communism, contrary to the movie, did not accept Darwinism. It viewed evolution as a biological statement based on capitalism, which was to be rejected.

The movie misrepresented the Holocaust and Darwin connection. Hitler misunderstood artificial vs. natural selection. Anti-Semitism was the cause of the Holocaust, not a scientific theory. The Anti-Defamation League issued a strongly worded statement against Expelled. In part they said," Using the Holocaust in order to tarnish those who promote the theory of evolution is outrageous and trivializes the complex factors that led to the mass extermination of European Jewry."

The movie quote mines Darwin to make it sound as if he supported forced eugenics. Darwin actually said that eugenics would be "a great evil." They place blame for the eugenics movement on "Darwinist", even though many evolutionists where outspoken critics of the movement (including Clarence Darrow).

Also keep in mind:

Ben Stein lied about the subject of the movie to all the evolutionists interviewed. He told them it was not an Intelligence Design movie.

The large cheering crowd at the end is all extras. The scene took place at Pepperdine, but only about three students showed up for his talk. So he had to pay actors to give him a raucous standing ovation.

Prominent Christians evolutionists like Ken Miller (practicing Catholic) and Frances Collins (born-again Evangelical), where not interviewed because "it might confuse the audience", according to the producers.

99.9% of scientists in the US believe in evolution, and 40% of those also believe in a personal God. Contrary to Expelled, science and evolution can go together.

The Discovery Institute said that ID is not a religious belief. A Bush appointed judge in the Dover trial said it is. The Discovery Institutes' own leaked "Wedge Document" says that its goal is to promote Christian values and belief in God through Intelligent Design. That's not science.

Evolution is science, while Intelligent Design is philosophy. That is why even many Christian scientists are against it.

It case you are wondering, I'm an evangelical Christian, not an atheist.

Sorry for the length of this review, but I think it is all necessary information. Keep it in mind as you watch an entertaining intelligent design propaganda movie!

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking and humorous!, May 11, 2009

By	A Fan (VA) - See all my reviews

This is a thought provoking and humorous documentary showing how just allowing for the possibility of Intelligent Design will get you ostracized or worse in modern academic and scientific circles. It shows how adherents of the current prevailing dogma of unguided Darwinian Evolution will grasp any straw to hang on to their beliefs despite the evidence (one even explains that life on Earth might have been started by space aliens while denying any possibility that it could have been started by God). Yes it has gotten that bad in the world of academia and so-called science.

Stein also brings to light how Darwinian Evolution influenced the Nazis and was used by them to justify the slaughter of millions of supposedly "less evolved" groups such as Jews. Ideas have consequences and they are not always good.

This should be shown in every high school and college campus in America, no the whole world.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Challenges the American Propaganda Machine, April 11, 2009

By	M. Hall "blues fan" (Glendale, AZ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a terrific documentary, well put together. The thing that I like most about this film is the fact that the American Propaganda Machine hated it. Newsweek, Time, New York Times, Washington Post all railed against it, with the Al Gore and Michael Moore worshipers chiming in. The fact is, no one knows, and this piece may be spot on or total poopie, but the establishment hates it, and that makes me want to watch.