07/25/06 An Inconvenient Truth

An Inconvenient Truth (2006), directed by Davis Guggenheim

watched w/ Leslie; theater (Galaxy Cinema, Cary, NC); Triangle Emerging Green Builders special screening

Now to return to a serious topic, without trying to make any grandiose political statement. This is a global topic that in someway affects all of us, and whether or not you believe the hype, you would have to admit that the discussions about it are fascinating (or maybe I'm just a dork). The looming subject is that of global warming, which inevitably has played havoc on our ecosystem, temperature, climates, and world water/energy supplies. The medium is that of a well-done documentary by TV-show vet Guggenheim, hosted by one former Vice President/short-lived President of the United States Al Gore. The place of viewing was an art-house theater where the event was being sponsored by a local group of young professionals which I have become associated with (given my penchant for building/design and environmental issues...yeah, hippie) known as the Emerging Green Builders. It was sort of unreal to be watching a film with such an important message and backdrop of computer PowerPoint presentation visual aids, and not feel like you were in a real-life lecture hall. I mean, c'mon, Al Gore is up on a stage talking to us about the hazards of our modern-day technologies, giving facts and figures to show the Earth's unnatural tendencies of late...and it doesn't put you to sleep! That in itself is quite a feat of holding our collective ADD brains. The film documents Gore in one of his live lectures on the topic, but shows his approach to teaching the subject to people in a way that's not overly political or cramming biased opinions down your throat (like most major political issues can be). He takes a scientific approach to the data, something that he seems very sincere about...having always been a proponent for environmental issues and enacting legislation to regulate/maintain such things. What he attempts to do through the data and compelling visual presentation is lay out facts that have been studied by people way more intelligent than you or I or Al Gore...and give you some realistic terms in which our future may look like if we proceed as we are. He's really trying to win over our own motivation to make things better for prosperity. It's also telling in the film to have the director intersplice fragments of Gore's personal/political life; including the sickness of his child, death of his sister to cancer, and infamous loss to George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential election. It's all the key factors in his own life that have lead him to the position he is in today, trying to convey a message for the good of others and the world. Pretty bold & grandiose maybe, but not a bad basis for a smear campaign against something that needs to be addressed somehow. Now go rush out and buy a hybrid you hippie.

4 out of 5 stars