An Inconvenient Truth

Starring: Al GoreDirected By: Davis GuggenheimRated PGParamount Classics

Somehow, through no fault of his own, Al Gore lost a reasonably important presidential election. There was a great deal of concern about this, resulting in a rousing argument that landed largely on deaf ears in the highest court in the nation. After the dust settled, Al got back to talking about those things he was talking about long before he got into politics. He toured all over the world. Eventually, someone decided that what he was saying was important enough to turn into a documentary. And when all the cameras were pointed at him, Gore announced in a rather casual voice that if things didn’t change in a pretty big way pretty soon, everyone on the planet was doomed. For an encore he talked briefly about his family and his life in politics. The result isn’t nearly as impressive as it needs to be to save the world. Luckily, this is an unrealistic expectation to put on the shoulders of a single film. While it fails as a heroic cinematic miracle, it excels at being precisely the tool necessary to bring the subtle complexities of global warming to the public. Such a film might be a vehicle for discussing how we might avoid the complete extinction of the human race… y’know… for people who are into that sort of thing. With An Inconvenient Truth, Director Davis Guggenheim edits together a passably entertaining package from the fundamental components of Al Gore’s traveling speech, though the results of simply filming a speech and editing around it are a bit of a disappointment. Al Gore is a staggeringly intelligent guy, but he isn’t exactly the most powerful orator. While he has gained some charismatic momentum since his departure from the epicenter of politics, he still doesn’t hold enough precious spotlight to adequately serve as the film’s center.

Truth alternates the facts about global warming with biographical details about Gore. It’s a clever way to keep things from getting too heavy, but it won’t be enough to maintain the attention of people who simply aren’t interested in these two subjects. This would be less frustrating if it weren’t for the fact that the people who aren’t particularly interested are precisely who the film needs to reach.

That said, Guggenheim’s efforts to put together a visually diverse and compelling picture aren’t entirely unsuccessful. Satellite photos of places in the U.S. after the breakup of certain glaciers are impressive no matter how often you see them. There’s some pretty breathtaking footage of the melting glaciers themselves, and even graphs of CO2 levels in the atmosphere over the years are entertaining. There’s animation from Matt Greoning’s crew that serves as one of the few sustained bits of pointed comedy relief.

While most of An Inconvenient Truth is gracelessly education-heavy, there are a few moments of sheer poetry. The beginning of the closing credits is worth sticking around for. It’s a startlingly effective use of standalone screen text backed up by a catchy pop song presumably custom-written for the film. VS

Russ Bickerstaff is a local poet and writer. His poems can be heard regularly at Linneman's Monday Poetry Night.