Movie Notes: An Inconvenient Truth

June 21st, 2006

An Inconvenient Truth

= 4 stars

Starring Al Gore
Directed by Davis Guggenheim

Amazon Link

Al Gore isn’t exactly Mr. Vivacious here, but he is a man who believes he’s right and feels an ethical duty to tell the world his point of view. Put this way, he has much in common with an old-time travelling preacher, whose sermon is that global warming is real, it’s here now, and the citizens of the world must act immediately if we have any hope of staving off its effects.

Gore makes a convincing case with well-produced info-graphics. Whether or not you believe the future is in your control or not, we have a moral responsibility to do something about it. Even if you aren’t convinced global warming is caused by humans, wouldn’t it be a better world where more folks cared about their environment, the color of the water, and the quality of the air?

The more subtle message is that there are more important things than corporate profits, personal comfort, and material wealth. One graphic produced by the opposition features a scale with bars of gold on one hand and the earth on the other, intended to mean that choosing to save the earth means giving up on economic growth. Gore’s dry wit shines as he quips sarcastically, “Mmm, gold.” And I think this is why An Inconvenient Truth is ultimately an important film. It tries to point this nation in a direction that isn’t just about money, greed, oil, and getting more crap to fill up a McMansion. It’s about the fragility of the earth. It’s about finding solace in duty, ethics, and the future. America can turn an inconvenient truth into a cause for celebration by acting locally to create global results.

So what other movie have you seen recently that makes you think about mankind’s ability to change the world for better or worse? For that reason alone, I highly recommend An Inconvenient Truth.

IMDB: An Inconvenient Truth
Wikipedia: An Inconvenient Truth
Rotten Tomatoes: An Inconvenient Truth 93%