FLOCK OF DODOS: THE EVOLUTION-INTELLIGENT DESIGN CIRCUS
**** out of *****
Reviewed by Jarrod Baker

Screening in the 2006 New Zealand Documentary Film Festival
Back to KP's Documentary Film Fest Coverage

Genres
Documentary
Religion

2006
Written and directed by
Randy Olson

In 1859, Charles Darwin published what would become his most widely known work, On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection. In this book Darwin laid the foundations for the modern-day study of evolution, by describing a way in which species could change over time, and providing some empirical evidence why this might be the case.

Darwin's theory, however, implied that man and ape shared a common ancestor – furthermore it implied that man might not have always been man. As this contradicts the Christian creation story, there has been ideological opposition to the theory of evolution from Darwin's time right up until the present. This conflict has taken a new turn in recent years, however, with the emergence of the Intelligent Design (ID) movement. It is the rise of this movement, which explicitly exists to question evolution, that if the subject of A Flock of Dodos.

Evolutionary ecologist Randy Olson, who wrote and directed Flock, is perhaps an ideal figure to provide an evolutionist perspective on what the film refers to as "the evolution-intelligent design circus". Olson inserts himself into the frame as an active participant as he talks to people on both sides of the issue – giving leading ID proponents and evolutionary scientists more or less an equal platform to put forward their views.

Olson's own views on the matter, however, are clear from the beginning – he makes no apologies for being firmly in the evolutionist camp. Despite this he's fairly gentle, for the most part, with the Intelligent Design supporters he talks to even as he gives them enough rope to hang themselves.

His gentle approach means that although the film has a distinct agenda, it manages to present the opponents of that agenda as human beings rather than as villainous stereotypes. This is particularly important in light of the film's central thesis – which is that to combat the Intelligent Design movement, scientists need to become better at communicating about evolution and the science behind it. Stereotypes and pejoratives won't cut it when the other side has a multi-million dollar PR budget and the backing of a broad grassroots community.

The mantra of the ID movement is "teach the controversy" – however evolutionary scientists tend to scoff at this; evolution is established, robust science, they say – there is no controversy. But although this may be true, Olson suggests that it is doing evolution no favours – evolutionists' attitude in this regard and their refusal to engage with what they regard as a topic not worthy of debate makes them appear arrogant and aloof.

Perhaps A Flock of Dodos' greatest success however is that in exposing this weakness in the evolutionist arsenal, he goes a long way towards closing it. Flock is smart, funny, and it presents facts about evolution in an accessible way – while poking fun at almost everyone involved, and neatly skewering some of the key ID talking points.

How can evolutionists communicate better with the public? They could start by getting Randy Olson to make more films about evolution.

Screening in Wellington on Tuesday October 3 at 2:30pm at the Paramount Theatre.
Screening in Christchurch on Thursday October 12 at 5:05pm at the Rialto.
Screening in Dunedin on Friday October 27 at 6:55pm and Saturday October 28 at 2:55pm at the Rialto.
Refer to the Documentary Film Fest homepage for more information.

Or go back to KP's Film Fest Coverage

Discuss this article on the forums. (0 posts)