I watched this documentary this morning thinking it might be an interesting look at predictions from the ancient world applied and analysed to the modern world.
I'm not religious and am sceptical about most things I see and read, religious or not. So, I went into this documentary fully expecting not to believe in any of the predictions to be examined but hoping to learn something about the people who do believe them and their reasoning.
Sadly, The Daniel Project doesn't even try to analyse the Bible predictions... or even present some of them properly.
Not a single prediction gets unbiased treatment and all of the evidence comes either from questionable experts or from partial-quotes presented as a) complete and b) accurate. For example, one expert is a historian whose expertise is on "early Judaism studies" who speaks a whole host of languages. Great, but he spends most of his time talking about the modern political situation in Russia, Turkey and Pakistan. The documentary doesn't even try to pretend he's an expert on this subject. Other "experts" appear but we are never told who they are or what their expertise is... although they seem to know about pretty much everything going on in the world in every period of history! At one point, we are authoritatively told that all of the predictions must come in order; that they build on each other to lead to the inevitable last day when the Earth will stand still. Yet in the very next scene we are referred to prediction 13, which apparently came true 2,000 before any of the first 12 predictions! One of the predictions is that there will come a time when people are marked either on the forehead or the right hand and only those with the mark will be able to buy or sell goods... all others will be beheaded. The host, looks at the camera and asks us to think of where in the world that is happening right now. I have no knowledge of anywhere in the world where this is happening and nor does the film try to tell us. Also, the prediction is twisted to mean that the mark must be some form of currency - although there's no reason that the wording read out must mean that - and next we are told that big companies are already investing heavily in implanting people with chips that will hold all our personal details and credit card information. No evidence for this is presented.
Another prediction is that deaths from disease will increase and a list of natural disasters scrolls along the bottom of the screen marked "World News" as proof. No dates are given and, importantly, no attempt is made to consider whether this represents an increase at all. It's as if nobody ever died before the 20th century.
There are problems with every single one of the predictions they look at and "evidence" presented to prove it has come true.
The final criticism I'm going to write about (although not the final criticism I have) is the choice of presenter, Jeremy Hitchen. He seems like a nice enough bloke but completely lacks the necessary skills to be a journalist. That's probably not a surprise since he's a voice-over artist. How that qualifies him to investigate 2000 year old prophecies is a mystery to me. He begins by claiming to be a sceptic, spends the entire film telling us how "spooky" everything is and ends completely converted by the evidence he's uncovered. Had he bothered to consider anything else or talk to anybody not already completely convinced themselves he would have had a lot more credibility.
As it stands, The Daniel Project is just about watchable. Mainly because it provides a great opportunity to either, re-enforce your existing views or spend a morning shouting at the TV. It's also a tour de force on how not to make a documentary or critically examine a set of ideas.
I'm not religious and am sceptical about most things I see and read, religious or not. So, I went into this documentary fully expecting not to believe in any of the predictions to be examined but hoping to learn something about the people who do believe them and their reasoning.
Sadly, The Daniel Project doesn't even try to analyse the Bible predictions... or even present some of them properly.
Not a single prediction gets unbiased treatment and all of the evidence comes either from questionable experts or from partial-quotes presented as a) complete and b) accurate. For example, one expert is a historian whose expertise is on "early Judaism studies" who speaks a whole host of languages. Great, but he spends most of his time talking about the modern political situation in Russia, Turkey and Pakistan. The documentary doesn't even try to pretend he's an expert on this subject. Other "experts" appear but we are never told who they are or what their expertise is... although they seem to know about pretty much everything going on in the world in every period of history! At one point, we are authoritatively told that all of the predictions must come in order; that they build on each other to lead to the inevitable last day when the Earth will stand still. Yet in the very next scene we are referred to prediction 13, which apparently came true 2,000 before any of the first 12 predictions! One of the predictions is that there will come a time when people are marked either on the forehead or the right hand and only those with the mark will be able to buy or sell goods... all others will be beheaded. The host, looks at the camera and asks us to think of where in the world that is happening right now. I have no knowledge of anywhere in the world where this is happening and nor does the film try to tell us. Also, the prediction is twisted to mean that the mark must be some form of currency - although there's no reason that the wording read out must mean that - and next we are told that big companies are already investing heavily in implanting people with chips that will hold all our personal details and credit card information. No evidence for this is presented.
Another prediction is that deaths from disease will increase and a list of natural disasters scrolls along the bottom of the screen marked "World News" as proof. No dates are given and, importantly, no attempt is made to consider whether this represents an increase at all. It's as if nobody ever died before the 20th century.
There are problems with every single one of the predictions they look at and "evidence" presented to prove it has come true.
The final criticism I'm going to write about (although not the final criticism I have) is the choice of presenter, Jeremy Hitchen. He seems like a nice enough bloke but completely lacks the necessary skills to be a journalist. That's probably not a surprise since he's a voice-over artist. How that qualifies him to investigate 2000 year old prophecies is a mystery to me. He begins by claiming to be a sceptic, spends the entire film telling us how "spooky" everything is and ends completely converted by the evidence he's uncovered. Had he bothered to consider anything else or talk to anybody not already completely convinced themselves he would have had a lot more credibility.
As it stands, The Daniel Project is just about watchable. Mainly because it provides a great opportunity to either, re-enforce your existing views or spend a morning shouting at the TV. It's also a tour de force on how not to make a documentary or critically examine a set of ideas.
