An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
An Inconvenient Truth (2006) 6/10
If i was in charge of the Ministry of Education, i’d probably make An Inconvenient Truth compulsory viewing for all schoolchildren.
Watching An Inconvenient Truth is like attending a lecture, only this time its Al Gore as your lecturer. To his credit, he explains difficult, and probably dry concepts with ease and humor. The film is very accessible, albeit slow going at times and works as an excellent lecture.
But what troubles me is the obvious bias in the film. Gore’s vision of what will happen strikes me as very alarmist, and having actually studied geography, i feel that the directors are very much guilty of overstating their case. For an alternate view of Gore’s arguments, you may want to look at Iain Murray’s critique. Nevertheless, i agree with Gore’s general argument, that global warming is a clear threat and that something must be done. I don’t agree with the exaggeration of the issue, but i agree that shock tactics are sometimes needed, a point succinctly brought out by Gore in his frog analogy.
An Inconvenient Truth isn’t a great film. Nor is it the best documentary (Both Enron and Capturing the Friedmans rank better), but it is a socially relevant film that demands to be watched. And its one of those films which i think makes you into a better person just by watching it. Strictly speaking, its not really a film but rather a lecture or a seminar. Nevertheless, it is something that you should not miss.
“The director, Davis Guggenheim, uses words, images and Gore’s concise litany of facts to build a film that is fascinating and relentless. In 39 years, I have never written these words in a movie review, but here they are: You owe it to yourself to see this film. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to. ” -Ebert
