I was raised in the so-called Third World and live in Europe. I watched this film, because the subject interests me. While watching, I was thinking "This is a comedy, it didn't really happen, these people are actors, right?", so hard it was for me to believe that this was taking place in a nation everybody (mostly Americans) thinks it's the country that "leads" the world.In the so-called Third World Evangelicals have grown a lot and more and more of them infiltrate politics, but I don't know of any country where they have so much power to change things and force their religious agenda. How can this be possible in the country that supposedly leads the world, and worse: in the XXI century? If I were American, I would be ashamed.Science is about finding things out, whatever it is. When some people decide that a book says how things must be, this is obviously not science. Science is not about proving a book is right.It's laughable especially because some people decide that there is a God, a certain God is the right God and a certain book is his book. Couldn't the God of indigenous people in the Amazon, for example, be the right God, and all people who think that the God of the Bible is the right one have been wrong all this time? Why not? Also, John Calvin is a very bad advertisement for a country, since everybody who knows History also knows that he did very evil things, like sending opponents to be burnt at the stake (see Michael Servetus, for one example).Texas is a funny land...

The theory of evolution and a re-write of American history are caught in the cross-hairs when an unabashed Creationist seeks re-election as chairman of America's most influential Board of Education.If the guy is going up for RE-election? Where is the controversy? It's made up controversy by the crazed left who want religion eradicated from the face of the earth.The people who claim to be open-minded and accepting are actually the least open-minded people on earth. They live in a bubble where only those lemmings to think and believe as they do are right. They seek to destroy those who do not think as they do and ensure that they can dictate how we can act, think, eat, and do.It's interesting that this movie focuses what happens in Texas when crazy far far far left wing California is actually more influential than Texas when it comes to the books kids across the country read in school.Bottom line is this movie is about censorship and the removal of freedom of belief. It's about evil people who ant to control every little bit of your life. But it also positions it in a biased way that suggests there is something wrong with being religious.The reason for making this movie is bogus. Just as is the agenda of the far left.

As someone based in the UK, I live in one of the most secular countries in the world, (which Im very pleased to say). That said, there's still far too much religious influence even here (as far as Im concerned). But when it comes to America however, US government and US schools have long been infiltrated by religious crackpots trying to infest minds with their dogma written by sheep-herders some 2000yrs ago. Its quite likely, that America is much more religiously biased than countries like Iraq and Afghanistan which it portrays as places of crazy faith-fuelled zealots.Just why it is that many parts of America are still fighting the theory of Evolution (even on the use of the word "theory") is amazing in this scientific age. Maybe this was easier back in 1859 when even the great man Darwin wasn't exactly sure as to what the mechanisms of Evolution were, but with the discovery of DNA any doubt was wiped from the record. And here we are almost 100yrs after the Scopes Trial still going over the same old rants from lunatics.The Revisionaries movie documents just what happens when one of these religious loonies gets themselves into a position to affect schooling for everyone, by controlling what books are sent to US schools and therefore having a country-wide influence. It's a stunning film, and it runs like some surreal story from a distant time and place, when (very) alarmingly it isn't. Today its almost impossible to declare oneself an Atheist and be successful in US government, which gives ideology a fine foothold in American life. The media gets involved too, with places like FOX News also contaminating the water. The final piece of the twisted puzzle is to run their dogma like cancer through American schools eradicating all things Darwinesque. Some folk just don't get the "separation between church and state" idea I guess.I cant fathom how it is that one manages to blinker themselves to the huge mass of information out there proving the age of the Universe, Galaxy, Solar System and Earth but it must take some doing. The film openly shows backward humans declaring the planet is 6000yrs old (lol). I suppose if you read/say something enough times however you may well start to believe your own mantra. Those peasants who wrote what is known as "The Bible" probably had about as much intelligence back then as some of these Texas Board members do right now – still selling the same old fairies in the sky.But of course, we all know science and logic will ultimately prevail.For those folk of rationality, intellect, and free-thought, watch this movie and feel your jaw drop at the hilarity of it all. Maybe some day we will be rid of these crazy people stuck in their Dark Ages time-warp. Or maybe we could just pack them all into a big boat somewhere, two by two, and let them sail off to la-la-land so we don't have to listen to them any more. Ahh… that would be nice.

The interpretation of language is at the center of Scott Thurman's engaging documentary about the Texas Board of Education's meetings to discuss the school curriculum. In 2009 the hot topic was the teaching of evolutionary theory in science classes.The head of the board at the time was dentist Don McLeroy, a creationist who believes that the Earth was created just 6000 years ago. He once publicly stated that 'education is too big a subject not to be politicized." What he really wants to see is science textbooks highlighting doubts about the theory of evolution. His arguments are couched in scientific terms but it doesn't take much scratching beneath the surface to see the political angle. Although it's clear that the director's sympathies lie with the scientists complaining that creationists are trying to hijack the curriculum, what's remarkable is how McLeroy is treated sympathetically, portrayed as man who has firm beliefs and just wants those to be taught to others.What emerges is not just a discussion on religion but a sterling look at local government and how incredibly important and fundamental decisions are being made with very little democratic mandate. Less than 20 per cent of the electorate voted in the last board elections. Most decisions it seems are last minute fudges where turn of phrase becomes paramount. Yet the fascinating arguments over science classes have nothing on the 2010 discussions on social studies, where suggestions range from replacing 'hip hop' with 'country music' and one board member trying to insist on the use of the middle name Hussein when citing President Barack Obama. Without board approval, Texas schools cannot buy textbooks, and the publishers won't print non-approved books. It's a documentary in the great traditions of Errol Morris highlighting the politicization of education and culture and how the pursuit of knowledge is obstructed by ideological dogma.Find all of our film and festival coverage, as well as our events and education at www.DohaFilmInstitute.com. Follow us on Twitter @DohaFilm.