Review of Kinsey (2004) by Toni S — 13 Nov 2008

Am I a heretic for being a Christian and giving this such a high rating? I don't agree with the man on hardly anything. But the film nevertheless, poses some pressing existential questions that we all have to answer. How far can Darwinian evolution take us? Are we merely apes, or are we made in the image of God? Are our prohibitions on sexuality merely social convention, or do they preserve a sanctity invested in us by the Creator? Coming from a theistic evolutionary perspective (meaning I believe God guided the evolutionary process), and having very little doubt that humans are related to hominids that are related to primates, the answers don't come as easy as they do to from a special creationist perspective.

Maybe this is why I saw this less as propaganda for a man that initiated the sexual revolution, and more of an in depth look at a man that was an ardent atheist from a secular perspective. I think it is hard for a lot of Christians to grasp that without God in the equation, Kinsey's views on things are perfectly rational for an atheist, and from an atheistic perspective, it seems incomprehensible why anyone would deny themselves any bodily pleasure if it doesn't hurt anyone else. Morals values are merely products of socio-biological evolution. Obviously, I think God is a much better explanation of objective moral values than an Atheism. But being acquainted with atheism, I fully understand why Kinsey thinks the way he does, and why the filmmakers, who seem to be coming from a secular perspective think the way they do. It isn't propaganda for sexual liberation as it is simply a film coming from a worldview that I disagree with. Logically, I will disagree with the conclusions it comes to about sexuality also.

Liam Neeson is extraordinary as is Linney. Neeson plays Kinsey as a man that defies his own estimation of humans as being merely mechanical bi-products of evolution. He himself is a man of very complex emotions, and struggles. He loves, and sympathizes and angers like the rest of the world, but for some reason he can't get past the idea that sex is just humans acting on animalistic instincts and nothing more. Eventually, his ideas backfire on him, when his colleague exclaims in frustration and emotional pain that an having extra-marrital affairs is more than just biology. It emotionally affects everyone involved. If there is any propaganda in the film, it is that any time anyone does have an affair, after all the crying, everything is always peachy in the end, which simply isn't realistic, and sends a completely convoluted message to the viewer. Also, religious characters are looked on as bafoons.