(Finally) A Review of Collision

I’ve been sitting on a review for Collision for some time.  I already wrote it up right after I watched the film some time ago, but never got around to posting it. So here, right in the middle of “exam fever”, I decided to go ahead and post it. I don’t want to post this after it’s been out for a whole year!

The film’s excellent–but not for the faint of heart!

Some debates are destined to be boring. Others are bound to evade the important issues. Still others are snoody and convoluted–you know when a Christian meets a snoody intellectual atheist who thinks he isn’t a fundamentalist. Rest assured, when Christopher Hitchens and Douglas Wilson meet in a debate, we are sure to have a different sort of debate. And it will likely lean on the vigorous side.  I guess one could say it’s the sort of debate Richard Dawkins couldn’t have if he was paid a billion dollars for it. He just doesn’t have the oomph for it.

Here we have a great showdown, two contrarian fellows who even sometimes upset their own team find themselves subjected to a prolonged dialouge with a truly worthy opponent spread over various venues. They  may share the same planet, but their thought is so starkly different that at times they appear to reside in different worlds. And in a way they do. This is not really just a collision of ideas, more like a collision of lives–you really see it in the film.

You get the sense that Wilson and Hitchens, beyond their arguments, have this sort of thing for each other, a sort of friendship.  There’s a certain hint of mutual respect. There’s a certain hint incredulity. Hitchens appreciates finally finding a Christian who believes what he is defending and is willing to take it to its logical conclusions. Wilson appears to delight in having finally found a relevant “new atheist”. And they have some fun with it, there’s a Wodehouse “jam session” of sorts where they are flinging quotes, and it is a riot.

Now, don’t approach this film expecting a linear debate. It is moreso a collection of scattered cross-sections and various exerpts from the debates set in a variety of locations (ranging from Westminster Seminary on one hand and a few pubs on another hand). It is very unlinear, to the point of becoming unsettling.  But it has a certain charm and is produced fairly well! At points the video  makes them seem like rap stars or gangsters, but this sort of adds to the mystique. I hope that this video drives some people to actually seek out some of the full debates and watch them or listen to them, since their linear nature will probably lead to a fuller understanding.

The interchange is great. Wilson makes a good stand as a bold Van Tilian Biblical absolutist. Hitchens also plays his normal role. Both are witty and both really put themselves into this thing. I think Wilson makes a great, rugged case for the Christian worldview and the impossibility/absurdity of the contrary and he takes a lot of courage in subjecting himself to a thorough “Hitchens treatment”.

(And just as a bit of warning for those who would like to know, there is some coarse language, not gratuitous, but it is there)