Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
2008 American documentary film
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is a 2008 American propaganda film directed by Nathan Frankowski and starring Ben Stein. It is presented as a documentary promoting the conspiracy theory that academia oppresses and excludes people who believe in intelligent design. It portrays the scientific theory of evolution as a contributor to communism, fascism, atheism, eugenics, and in particular Nazi atrocities in the Holocaust. Although intelligent design is a pseudoscientific religious idea, the film presents it as science-based, without giving a detailed definition of the concept or attempting to explain it on a scientific level. Other than briefly addressing issues of irreducible complexity, Expelled examines intelligent design purely as a political issue.
Expelled opened in 1,052 movie theaters, more than any other documentary before it, and grossed over $2,900,000 in its first weekend. It earned $7.7 million, making it the 33rd highest-grossing documentary film in the United States (as of 2018, and not adjusted for inflation).
Media response to the film has been largely negative. Multiple reviews, including those of USA Today and Scientific American, described the film as propaganda, with USA Today adding that it was "a political rant disguised as a serious commentary on stifled freedom of inquiry" and Scientific American calling it "a science-free attack on Darwin". The New York Times deemed it "a conspiracy-theory rant masquerading as investigative inquiry" and "an unprincipled propaganda piece that insults believers and nonbelievers alike".
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