Title: The Science Fiction Makers
Year; 2020
Director: Andrew Wall
Country: Canada
Language: English
With The Science Fiction Makers director Andrew Walls seeks to compare and contrast "light science fiction", sci fi that is based on the mystical (ex, Star Wars), with "hard science fiction", sci-fi that is based on technology & practicality (ex. Star Trek), In doing so, we examine the lives and works of three Christian writers (Rosseau, Lewis and L'Engle)
Beginning with discussing Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, describing it as a retelling of the Garden of Eden & essentially making it a Christian tale, Walls shows us an example of what good Christian science fiction is while using HG Wells' The Sleeper Walks as an example of bad atheist fiction. HG Wells was so repulsive that Rosseau & C.S Lewis wrote their works, most notably The Messiah of the Cylinder, as a response to him.
I dislike this documentarys' method of building up Christian writers by dismissing the thoughts of secular writers. Even the narration, such as when we read Orwell's response to C.S Lewis The Hideous Strength, makes the secular writer sound like a villain. The response we get from a secular critique of a christian writer is "well they are secular." Walls' encourages us to view the secular writers as Marxist pro-eugenics, anti-faith while holding the Christian writers in high regard. It almost pushed the film towards "too evangelical for me." Surely these writers are good enough on their own & putting down secularism wasn't necessary to get the point across.
I do love the in-depth discussion of each writers' works, lives & importance to Christianity as a whole. The dramatization of events, told by a number of Winnipeg's best and brightest (Dr. Michael Boyce, Dr. Diana Glyer etc,), improved with an intense score, creates a remarkable documentary that feels different from most. The information feels urgent; each sentence forming a small piece of a giant picture that encourages its audience to dive into Christian writing. The research done to create this documentary must have been staggering; I am impressed by Walls' passion for history.
Despite my distaste with putting down secular writers, I must admit the documentary is very well made. It is as engaging as it is informative. The second part of a trilogy, I look forward to seeing the third part of The Science Fiction Makers when it is finished. More interviews with Dr. Michael Boyce please!
The Science Fiction Makers is available on Amazon Prime & Super Channel in Canada
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