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A war is raging. It's a fierce battle that encompasses religion, cultural diversity, education and morality.

And Ben Stein's documentary, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," faces it with heavy artillery, some of the world's greatest thinkers from both sides of the battle lines between intelligent design and evolution.

This film is the epitome of a documentary with overt, quirky satire and deep-rooted black-and-white montages, such as footage of the construction of the Berlin Wall.

The "wall" is, in fact, the film's central theme.

It's not just the Berlin Wall. The wall the film refers to is that which suppresses valid knowledge from being revealed, simply because it is different.

Intelligent design is the belief that the universe's existence is not purely a chance occurrence, but rather the vision and creation of a purposeful craftsman, be it the God that Christians worship or any other.

In other words, it's the exact opposite of what is taught in science classrooms worldwide: The universe just came to be by chance, and there was no definite beginning.

Stein, who is an Ivy League-educated comedian known for his role in the Clear Eyes ads and his game show, "Win Ben Stein's Money," travels the globe -- with stops everywhere from Redmond, Wash., to Berlin and Paris -- attempting to appease those who oppose the premise of intelligent design. On his stops, he interviews such atheist radicals as Richard Dawkins and Dr. William Provine.

Provine's interview is a poignant representation of the bitter war. He not only denounces religion, but says he's happy to know he was born to die; that he was meant only to fulfill a short cycle on this earth.

Dawkins, in perhaps the most fascinating scene in the film, ultimately admits to the existence of a being that placed the elements in place to conjure up the world.

In this way, Stein makes an attempt to demonstrate the extent to which radicals such as these men go: they eliminate all other beliefs but their own, simply because they don't want to believe anything else. And this theme is a reoccurring one.

Stein interviews Eugenie Scott, humanist and founder of the National Center for Science Education, an organization that encourages freedom in evolutionary thought. For example, she states she is acquainted with Protestant believers who are also evolutionists.

The film is a bit of a bash fest. It presents individuals who have stated outlandish claims simply to obtain publicity and gain attention. That's not to say, though, that the film itself is one-sided or under-researched.

Some of Stein's interviews are with anonymous individuals who keep their faces hidden in the shadows. In this way, the film demonstrates the lack of boldness among some proponents of intelligent design. They are unwilling to take up arms as loyal supporters to their claims.

The film's most tragic event takes place when it personifies evolution's suppressive nature. Speaking of Darwinism's influence in such gruesome happenings as eugenics in World War II, the film presents historian Richard Weikart.

Weikart implements a theory: Sometimes evil is accepted because it is what is thought to be noble, for instance, Nazism, which has roots in Darwinism.

"Expelled," though controversial, is an incredibly noble documentary. Sure, Stein delivers a direct slap to faces of close-minded thinkers, pointing fingers along the way and leaving no prisoners to stupidity.

The war rages on. But light suddenly pierces the darkness. Stein stands at a podium before a college class, proclaiming the necessity for freedom -- of speech, of religion, that upon which this country is rooted.

Stein's "Expelled" educates the American public while challenging its future leaders: Who will take a stand against this suppression? Who will chip away at the stones of oversight? Who will enlist in the peaceful war for freedom and justice?

* Wyatt Kanyer attends Riverside Christian School.