2008 Woodie Awards
An Inconvenient Truth and an Inescapable Film
Fraser Holmes
Issue date: 9/29/06 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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When Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude was originally published, a certain critic wrote that his novel should be required reading for the entire human race.
An Inconvenient Truth is the movie equivalent.
If you're a tree hugging, hemp wearing, Birkenstock loving hippie who has already heard the arguments for global warming ad infinitum and, as a result, would ride your six-speed 1975 Schwinn from Portland to Portland, Al Gore's documentary will merely be a meticulously prepared "encouraged watching". If you eat red meat, say "redskins" and love red states, you'll probably leave the movie after Gore proclaims himself to be "the formerly elected President of the United States."
But if you're like me and most Americans, and you're somewhere in between, you will be riveted, shocked, appalled, terrified, and moved to action over an issue we've all interacted with since we knew what pollution was.
It's not really that Gore says anything we haven't heard before - he just says it more convincingly. Yeah, yeah, so Florida's supposed to be up to the Everglades in sea water and San Francisco's just going to float into the ocean. But, as Gore points out, Shanghai will be under water, as will Beijing, Calcutta, Manhattan south of Central Park, and all of the Netherlands. Not just Amsterdam. Not just Rotterdam. All of it. And Kevin Costner will be nowhere in sight.
The movie revolves around a slide-show lecture Gore has given "more than a thousand times" in cities like Nashville, Los Angeles, Boston, Florence, London, and Tokyo. But interspersed are tid-bits of Gore on his old family's farm, or shots of Gore speaking to scientists in Asia, or pictures of Gore valiantly defending his cause in front of Congress and the White House. These images are, I think, meant to give a sense of personality to an issue that seems entirely beyond an individual impact, but they turn into a steady stream of Al Gore lauding, which is, at best, annoying, and at worst arrogant.
An Inconvenient Truth is the movie equivalent.
If you're a tree hugging, hemp wearing, Birkenstock loving hippie who has already heard the arguments for global warming ad infinitum and, as a result, would ride your six-speed 1975 Schwinn from Portland to Portland, Al Gore's documentary will merely be a meticulously prepared "encouraged watching". If you eat red meat, say "redskins" and love red states, you'll probably leave the movie after Gore proclaims himself to be "the formerly elected President of the United States."
But if you're like me and most Americans, and you're somewhere in between, you will be riveted, shocked, appalled, terrified, and moved to action over an issue we've all interacted with since we knew what pollution was.
It's not really that Gore says anything we haven't heard before - he just says it more convincingly. Yeah, yeah, so Florida's supposed to be up to the Everglades in sea water and San Francisco's just going to float into the ocean. But, as Gore points out, Shanghai will be under water, as will Beijing, Calcutta, Manhattan south of Central Park, and all of the Netherlands. Not just Amsterdam. Not just Rotterdam. All of it. And Kevin Costner will be nowhere in sight.
The movie revolves around a slide-show lecture Gore has given "more than a thousand times" in cities like Nashville, Los Angeles, Boston, Florence, London, and Tokyo. But interspersed are tid-bits of Gore on his old family's farm, or shots of Gore speaking to scientists in Asia, or pictures of Gore valiantly defending his cause in front of Congress and the White House. These images are, I think, meant to give a sense of personality to an issue that seems entirely beyond an individual impact, but they turn into a steady stream of Al Gore lauding, which is, at best, annoying, and at worst arrogant.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Steve Holmes
steve holmes
posted 10/03/06 @ 8:13 PM CST
another outstanding article, Frase. Very well said. Now, I guess I have to see the movie.
In the for what it's worth category, Mark, the guy I work with at Striker, also saw the movie and was very much moved by it. (Continued…)
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