The film Text copyright (c) Filmverdict 2006-present. Any film titles and artwork used are copyright of their respective owners.
Global warming is a scary thought which many of us simply ignore and hope the very real threat will conveniently vanish. Al Gore, the man who very rightly states in a tongue-in-cheek manner at the start of this documentary film that he "used to be the next President of the United States", has produced a superb lecture with more of a moral message than to simply go out and plant some more trees. Since 'losing' the 2000 election, Gore has travelled the world on a quest to educate the global community on the effects of global warming with his PowerPoint companion illustrating his precise ideals. The public figure synonymous with the Democrat party is not on a quest to gain sympathy following his agonising political 'defeat' or to gain support to run again for the world's most powerful job, but rather to outline the dangers ahead for mankind if something isn't done now to combat the planet's biggest problem. His honed, articulate and eloquent talents do not simply stumble along and say what has to be done. Gore displays an impressive arsenal of evidence to support his argument and presents us with interesting statistics, fascinating graphs and even a Futurama parody of the threat to trigger a few scares but mainly to entice us into wanting to do something.
The interludes away from the lecture theatre which look at Gore's private life may seem irrelevant at first but most, if not all, of his digressions make valuable points. For example, the chapter on personal history on his father's tobacco plantation is an intelligent comparison. Smoking was seen for years as a casual and safe activity and the risk of lung cancer, when it was eventually discovered, was culturally dismissed until the death count mounted up. Gore intertwines the spirit of this undertone into its global warming equivalent perfectly and makes incredibly, though not antagonistically; clear that the same will happen on Earth if climate change has its way. Citizens and governments need to act and this is the thesis of Gore's carefully constructed argument which is extremely hard to criticise. Director Davis Guggenheim lets Gore explain the terrors which are on the doorstep without interfering at all – a director cannot really do much when all the viewer sees is a stage and some plasma screens! No wonder Pulp Fiction (1994) producer Lawrence Bender involved himself in this project as it's a trouble-free payday with a main star, fundamental focal point and hardly any budget. Furthermore, the film is rather sardonic of Hollywood at the present time when one man and a computer can be more crucial and engaging to society than millions of dollars splashed on the screen!
The extras
For a package made out of recycled material this is a good DVD. The two commentaries, one from Guggenheim and one from the four producers, are insightful but definitely missing the expertise of Al "The Main Event" Gore, even though he is so obviously liked with frequent mentions of admiration. The "Making Of" is a bit strange because the filmmakers didn't really have anything to make! Guggenheim basically followed Gore around for a little while with a camera to capture his thoughts, set up a simple yet glorified lecture theatre and filmed the documentary about his quest. The half hour "Update" is excellent though and is a basic continuation of the film to cover the last year with a more urgent aura surrounding Gore's message. The Melissa Etheridge "I Need to Wake Up" (Oscar-winning song) music video is also included. Nothing else can really be incorporated for an instructive release such as this. Some of the DVD cases are ordinary plastic but others are biodegradable in Paramount's effort for a green world, and consequently the disc scores more brownie points.
The summary
Appealing to everyone, An Inconvenient Truth is one lecture all and sundry have a moral and ethical obligation to attend.
