Documentary · History

Monkey Trial

Monkey Trial is a film that pits scientific discovery against religious fervor. It's about a moment in history when two men faced each other across a courtroom, each trembling with rage, each attacking the faith of the other. The clash symbolized a new fault line in American culture — a time when scientific advances began to challenge the bedrock of truth that the Bible represented to so many people. Filmmaker Christine Lesiak (Around the World in 72 Days) weaves together interviews with leading historians, America's foremost scholars, and Dayton residents who sat in the courthouse, to vividly capture the passions that were unleashed for three weeks in July of 1925. In doing so, she begins to strip away the myths that obscure the meaning of one of the most important trials of the century.