An Inconvenient Truth
Directed by: Davis Guggenheim
Starring: Al Gore

Let me start by saying that An Inconvenient Truth is a shining example of just how important and positive a feature film can be when someone sets out to educate rather than entertain. Anyone who believes movies are pure junk culture, escapism and fantasy fulfilment need only watch this film to see that it’s not a fantasy and it presents a scenario that none of us would want fulfilled in our worst nightmares. Thankfully, it’s a situation that can be avoided, assuming we take action soon.

The debate over global warming has raged on for far too long, and it’s about time someone separated the fact from fiction. While you can always argue about the validity of information presented in a documentary, you can’t dispute the exposure that a movie like this brings to the issues. Regardless of your personal beliefs and political leanings, this movie is encouraging debate and discussion that might not have otherwise taken place, which is by all accounts, a great thing.

The problem and the challenge for a movie like this is to try and reach out to a wider audience — something that Al Gore and director Davis Guggenheim have not entirely accomplished with An Inconvenient Truth. You see, having Al Gore as the “star” and spokesman for a movie about global warming is a bit of a double-edged sword. He is knowledgeable, passionate, and motivated to speak on the subject, but to a lot of people he is nothing more than a politician, and unfortunately, that’s all it takes to turn them off. No one trusts politicians because they always have an agenda, right?

What many people don’t realize is that Al Gore’s agenda is not a selfish one. All his own profits from the movie will be put towards a campaign to further raise awareness, while Paramount Classics are also committing 5% of the theatrical gross to the Alliance for Climate Protection. Gore has taken a personal interest in the subject ever since the 70’s, when he took a course at Harvard with Professor Roger Revelle, who was one of the first scientists to begin monitoring the problem. Gore also spearheaded the first congressional hearing on the subject of global warming, and in 1992 wrote a book called Earth In The Balance.

I wish I could convince everyone to let their guard down and go see this film, but I know it’s not going to happen. It does make me wish maybe they could have taken a slightly different approach to getting the message out. However, for a movie that covers such a dry subject, An Inconvenient Truth does a great job of getting across the necessary information, making a clear argument, and using a little cinematic flair to its advantage.

It is a little like two movies blended together into one. One half of the film is quite literally a lecture given by Al Gore with a slideshow and multimedia presentation. It uses footage of Gore speaking at presentations across the country — some of which is quite artfully shot I might add. The other half of the film tells Gore’s own personal story, mainly through narration and archived footage. It covers how he came to be interested in environmental issues, how he got into politics, how he lost the election, and how he lost his sister to lung cancer, among other things.

Gore knows his stuff, and he prefers to let a lot of the facts do the talking for him, so be prepared to sit through plenty of charts and graphs and scientific demonstrations. I think after a while it all starts to blur together, losing some of the effectiveness. This movie hits some dull and boring stretches, as Gore is really the sole voice you hear throughout, and at times it’s not much different than sitting through a lecture at school. To his credit, he is a very enthusiastic speaker, and some of the multimedia illustrations are quite fascinating. The personal vignettes, on the other hand, help offer some variety and humanize Gore, while also developing a little bit of a narrative in the film.

Guggenheim tries to spice up the proceedings in a few other ways too: a short comedic animated clip from Futurama, some awe-inspiring helicopter footage of Antarctica, news footage of natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina. The climax of the movie, if there is one, seems to be where Gore projects the effects of melting ice shelves on sea levels around the world (including Manhattan). It is alarming, though not overwhelming.

Overall, the movie is pretty scientific and doesn’t try to manipulate your emotions much, which is to say it “plays fair” and doesn’t resort to Michael Moore-style tactics at all. I kind of wish at times they had taken things a step further though, just to leave an impression on viewers who might otherwise let it fade from their memory after leaving the theatre. I was glad to see that the end credits gave specific information on how we can make changes in our own lives, and where to go for more information. Although I would have liked solutions discussed a little more in the film itself, the majority of the movie is dedicated to one solitary goal: convincing you that global warming is real. That is certainly a worthy goal, what with all the misinformation and half-truths floating around out there right now, and I think it accomplishes that goal.

An Inconvenient Truth is a tough movie to discuss critically as I didn’t think it was an outstanding piece of cinema, but it did look nice and successfully conveyed an important message. People shouldn’t hold that against it, they should just go in and decide for themselves. But I can guarantee it will open your eyes and present you with things you hadn’t seen before. Gore himself is not the most interesting person, but the movie will give you a new respect for him (and also bring up a painful reminder of how close we were to having a U.S. without George W. in power).

It was slow at points and not quite as dramatic as I had hoped it would be… and yes, you could probably argue that there should have been interviews with the skeptics to balance it out. But that could just as easily have turned into mudslinging and then the movie would have accomplished nothing. All I know is that we really need to get past this nagging belief that global warming might be a hoax. Whether or not the planet will self-destruct in 50 years is anyone’s guess, but the hard data about global warming is impossible to refute. Something bad is happening and we can’t just sit back and hope it goes away anymore. So ask yourself this… what have you got to lose? — Sean

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