Religio-political documentaries seem to be a theme at the Tribeca film festival this year. Yesterday, I mentioned Jesus Camp. Today, IndieWIRE reports that writer-director Randy Olson’s Flock of Dodos is a documentary about the intelligent design debate that “aims for the style of Morgan Spurlock‘s ‘Super Size Me,’ or a Michael Moore film to try to make science interesting.”
Olson, who, as an evolutionist is squarely on the side of Darwin, clearly favors the established scientific explanations for how life began, exists today, and continues to change. He does, however, present many on-screen interviews with leading intelligent designers, both on the academic side as well as on the political, including colleagues from his own scientific community. And the film seems to argue that aside from their opposing sides of the debate, another thing separates the groups: likability.
Throughout the film, Olson discusses principles of intelligent design with the movement’s leading figures from both academia and the political front and accepts certain arguments but discredits others with flare. For example, the normally dry and boring subject as Haeckle’s discredited 19th century drawings of embryos, often used by intelligent designers to discredit Darwinists. Olson also finds the intelligent design group much more adept than many traditional academics in winning the public relations part of the war simply because of their affability. Conversely, he readily exposes his fellow academic colleague whose personalities may be a turn off for most people in non-scientific society.
Sounds interesting. I’m not sure it’s “balanced”, exactly — ID is not necessarily anti-evolution, per se — but it’s good to see that the film apparently doesn’t consider anyone to be above criticism.
MAY 3 UPDATE: Now Reuters chimes in:
The biologist in Randy Olson cringed at news reports of evangelical Christians challenging the teaching of evolution to schoolchildren in places such as Kansas on the grounds it was just a theory.
But the filmmaker in him feels just as strongly that scientists have done a lousy job explaining their side of the debate. . . .
Olson gives the intelligent design advocates plenty of airtime but the film exposes what Olson sees as the fallacies of best-selling authors who provide the intellectual firepower of the intelligent design movement.
He balances his critique of academics — too rigid and arrogant — with a calm, orderly attack on the arguments backing intelligent design.
Ultimately “Flock,” which does not yet have a distributor, hopes to appeal well beyond college campuses. The biggest challenge was making his points without overloading audiences to the point of boredom, he said.
“The more information, the narrower the audience,” Olson said.
Yeah, after all, if we wanted information, we’d read books!
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