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An Inconvenient Truth
Directed by: Davis Guggenheim
Starring: Al Gore
Genre:
Documentary
Run Time: 100 min.
Release Date: May
2006
On The Web:
Official
Site
Teaser:
Movie Trailer
Reviewed by
Byron Merritt |
Most Americans have heard of “that Al Gore documentary.”
Well here it is, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH.
If you’ve followed U.S. politics at all over the past 20 years, you know
that Al Gore is the environmental poster-boy thanks to his take on
global warming and other green issues. It wouldn’t be difficult to
surmise that his presidential run may have been hamstrung by this very
topic. Big Business doesn’t usually sit in the environmentally friendly
arena, and Big Business most certainly contributes (via backdoors) to
candidates financial checking accounts.
For better or worse, Al Gore lost his presidential bid. The “better”
aspect is that Al was then free to do whatever he liked with his life.
He wouldn’t be in the spotlight or battling legislators. So what did he
do? He went back to his roots.
An Inconvenient Truth, a lecture/slide-show Gore has probably
given hundreds of times, would otherwise be pushed aside by politicians
as an attack on industry if it were done by anyone else. But Gore’s been
on the inside. His science is strong and his data backed by nearly every
scientist on the planet (note the word “nearly”, as some simply do not
agree, but the overwhelming majority – 90% or higher – do). This is an
important fact, as scientists follow data, not personal beliefs or the
S&P 500.
The entire documentary is about global warming and how amazingly
ignorant or apathetic the world has become because of our reliance on
outdated technology, our increasing population, and our refusal to
change. The outdated technology is mostly about automobiles, since they
produce the most greenhouse gas emissions. The fact that the world’s
population has gotten out of control can be seen simply by looking at
various countries’ census reports and then comparing them to
agricultural and water needs. Our refusal to change is focused on
throughout the film thanks to our reliance on oil, coal, and other non-replenishables.
Al Gore has to be commended for doing such a great job on this
documentary. He is the center of it, but he so effortlessly takes the
focus off of himself and puts it on these hot-button topics that it’s
easy to forget we’re learning material from a former vice-president.
That was truly astonishing.
Gore’s passion for the global warming issues are admirable and most will
probably be thankful that he’s out there pushing this topic, trying to
bend the ear of every person he possibly can. Make no doubt about it,
he’s making money off this project, too. But viewers would probably
rather see someone as important as Gore making money this way rather
than working for Enron or Exxon/Mobil.
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Image from An Inconvenient
Truth
DVD cost: $23.99
Purchase:
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Film Review Stew
Favorite? Yes.
Stew Poo-Poo? No.
Newsworthy:
The cartoon clip that Al
Gore shows to help explain global warming is from the Futurama
(1999) episode "Crimes of the Hot." Al Gore (whose daughter Kristin was
a writer for the series) guest starred as himself in the episode,
claiming to be the inventor of the environment and the author of Balance
of the Earth, and the more popular Harry Potter and the Balance of the
Earth.
Movie Quote: "I
am Al Gore. I used to be the next President of the United States."
Other Actors/Actresses
from An Inconvenient Truth
None Available |
