In a compelling way, this documentary presents the startling scientific data on the looming global warming crisis. Part of why it's compelling is that it's presented by Al Gore, who has taken the issue as a personal crusade. Compelling and Al Gore in the same sentence, you say? Yes. Gone is the Gore-bot 3000 of the 2000 election.
The film has two threads interwoven — Al Gore's slideshow presentation on global warming and personal reflections on Gore's life. I've read some critics who said that the "Gore worship" parts are distracting, however I couldn't disagree more. The personal information presented about Gore helps bring an emotional connection to the issue. This is key to the overall effectiveness of the film, because it makes a complex issue that seems to affect the average person from a distance more personal. How can politicians or even scientists make the average Joe care about global warming, if they can't understand it? This film succeeds in doing so, because it makes us see global warming and its effects.
For the slideshow presentation, Gore makes a "boring" topic come alive with dramatic touches. Using animation, large graphs and startling photographs, Gore presents the data effectively. The most damning evidence that Gore shows is the various photographic proof of melting snowcaps and glaciers. At one point, Gore rides up in a hydraulic lift to give an impression of the rise in CO2 emissions. Gore skillfully builds his case to the most unsettling predictions.
The personal information section peeks into what sparked Gore's interest into the issue as well as his political work on the matter. However, the most emotional connection, surprisingly, comes from Gore's discussion of his sister's death from lung cancer and his family's farming of tobacco. The story presents a compelling argument against the people who have made their living from businesses that pollute and don't want to change no matter what the science says.
As for its political bent, you can say its left leaning, but that's the nature of the issue. As for the "Gore worship" critiques, well, the film does paint Gore in a very positive light. He comes off as smart, informed and even funny. He even jokes and calls himself the former next president of the United States of America. When he talks about complex scientific issues, he makes them easy for the viewer to understand, because we see that he fully understands them. A politician intelligently talking about anything, oh, it's depressing to think, but I digress.
Really the film is on the side of science and against the "let's bury our head in the sand" mentality of those whose agenda it is to cloud the debate, because if something was to be done about it they would financially suffer. When China's car emission standards are better than us, we have a problem. This is an important film that presents a serious topic that gets overshadowed in the press way too often. As trite as it may sound, we only have one planet — this film shows us how we are destroying it and why something needs to be done about it right away.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
