When I compile my list of the year's ten best films, I have a pretty good feeling that An Inconvenient Truth will take the top slot. There are more artful films, but none as important. Indeed, the advertising is correct-it could be the important film you'll ever see.
A filmed lecture by Al Gore, who is not known for being one our nations most charismatic speakers, might at first seem like an endurance test. But Gore has never appeared more at ease with himself. More than one person I know has remarked that if he were this casual and self-confident in the 2000 election, he would have won. But then again, he actually did win…
Throughout the course of a ninety-six minute film, Gore clearly, concisely, and entertainingly explains the causes and effects of global warming. And indeed the film is the truth- like evolution, global warming is something at which there is great controversy about on the national political stage, but a tested and proved reality to virtually all scientists who study it. Unlike evolution, there is little religious reason to disagree with it (I actually don't think there's a religious problem with evolution either, but that's just me), which makes its opponents grasp at straws. A clip is shown of Oklahoma Senator James M. Inhofe, who calls climate change "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people." Its opponents, most of whom who are lobbied by the auto and energy industries claim that the science is not real, even though a study commissioned by George W. Bush himself proved it was. The administration did nothing, which is not surprising considering both the President and Vice President are Texas oilmen. To be fair, the movie also implies that the Clinton administration didn't do nearly enough either.
Gore uses photographs, animations, and film clips to illustrate this. Among the most striking are pictures of ice peak and glaciers that were taken 50 years ago, and then a side-by-side comparison with photos of the same subject from the same angle today. The difference is striking, some mountain peaks have no snow on them anymore. Even more compelling, Gore makes the argument that the problem is far more urgent that most think. We are can't just leave the problem for our grandchildren to solve, we are seeing increased levels of disease, hurricanes, tornados, and typhoons all due to global warming.
Guggienhiem occasionally intercuts the lecture with biographical information about the former Vice President and Senator from Tennessee. Although certainly pro Gore, it is not a piece of political propaganda. In the most moving section, Gore reveals that he grew up on a tobacco farm, and voted against anti-tobacco legislation- until his sister died of lung cancer. The implication is clear- short term political expediency can have dire consequences.
The movie never ventures into preachyness because it doesn't have to. The evidence is objective enough that it is made clear that there is a problem, and something must be done about it, or Earth as we know it will be lost forever, along with many animals and plant species. But the film doesn't end with fear but with hope. Gore is confident that since Americans have solved huge problems in the past, they can solve this one. This film was one of the few times since 2000 that I have felt proud to be an American.
An Inconvenient Truth (2006)