AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH

Directed by Davis Guggenheim
Starring Al Gore
Reviewed by Byron Merritt

BIG THUMBS UP DOCUMENTARY REVIEW RATING!

Most Americans have heard of "that Al Gore documentary." Well here it is, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH.

If you’ve followed U.S. politics at all over the past 20 years, you know that Al Gore is the environmental poster-boy thanks to his take on global warming and other green issues. It wouldn’t be difficult to surmise that his presidential run may have been hamstrung by this very topic. Big Business doesn’t usually sit in the environmentally friendly arena, and Big Business most certainly contributes (via backdoors) to candidates financial checking accounts.

For better or worse, Al Gore lost his presidential bid. The "better" aspect is that Al was then free to do whatever he liked with his life. He wouldn’t be in the spotlight or battling legislators. So what did he do? He went back to his roots.

An Inconvenient Truth, a lecture/slide-show Gore has probably given hundreds of times, would otherwise be pushed aside by politicians as an attack on industry if it were done by anyone else. But Gore’s been on the inside. His science is strong and his data backed by nearly every scientist on the planet (note the word "nearly", as some simply do not agree, but the overwhelming majority – 90% or higher – do). This is an important fact, as scientists follow data, not personal beliefs or the S&P 500.

The entire documentary is about global warming and how amazingly ignorant or apathetic the world has become because of our reliance on outdated technology, our increasing population, and our refusal to change. The outdated technology is mostly about automobiles, since they produce the most greenhouse gas emissions. The fact that the world’s population has gotten out of control can be seen simply by looking at various countries’ census reports and then comparing them to agricultural and water needs. Our refusal to change is focused on throughout the film thanks to our reliance on oil, coal, and other non-replenishables.

Al Gore has to be commended for doing such a great job on this documentary. He is the center of it, but he so effortlessly takes the focus off of himself and puts it on these hot-button topics that it’s easy to forget we’re learning material from a former vice-president. That was truly astonishing.

Gore’s passion for the global warming issues are admirable and most will probably be thankful that he’s out there pushing this topic, trying to bend the ear of every person he possibly can. Make no doubt about it, he’s making money off this project, too. But viewers would probably rather see someone as important as Gore making money this way rather than working for Enron or Exxon/Mobil.

Click here for An Inconvenient Truth movie trailer!