Video/DVD Review: An Inconvenient Truth
What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this film introduces complicated
scientific, political, and social issues (most prominently, the
arguments surrounding global warming and environmental
pollution), which will likely go over the heads of the youngest
kids. While Al Gore explains his points with colorful graphics
(cartoons, graphs, "nature" footage), the statistics and
argument strategies may be boring for younger viewers, too. The
movie includes images of the aftermath of Katrina, as well as
references to other disasters (a 2003 European heat wave that
left 35,000 dead). Animated sequences show mild violence
(ozone-attacking sunbeams, a frog almost boiling, a weary polar
bear unable to find solid ice on which to rest). It also
includes sections on the death of Gore's sister from lung
cancer (photos of her as he talks about missing her and the
damage done by cigarette smoking) and on Gore's young son's
near death in a car accident (viewers see no specifics, mostly
haunting, empty hospital corridors and Gore looking sad).
Families can talk about the debate over global warming, and
whether it results from human excesses or inevitable natural
changes. They might discuss the film's presentation of
conflicts between economic and environmental needs, the U.S.
role in pollution and global warming, and accusations by some
politicians (shown briefly in the film) that global warming is
a hoax.
Plainspoken and passionate, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH tracks Al Gore's efforts to convince people that global warming is an immediate, dire, and still fixable problem. Well-paced and galvanizing, the movie suggests he's finally found his calling, beyond political backrooms and official chambers, in the bright light of a cause that moves him. Gore is alternately grave, impressive, and even funny as he makes clear the stakes he sees in changing human consuming habits. After loing a presidential contest, Gore is more determined than ever to "get [his] message across."He's packaged that message into a slide show that, he says, he's performed more than 1000 times over the years. The movie argues that global warming is a man-made phenomenon, backing that claim with charts and graphs and statistics, as well as before and after shots of glaciers, once snowy mountains, and once full lakes. Whatever you believe about the causes of global warming, the film insists that you acknowledge its existence.
The movie occasionally leans too hard on sentimental devices, as when Gore looks repeatedly out windows while his voiceover narrates his concerns over a receding natural world. A more awkward section has Gore explaining his decision to turn his energies to the environment, because, he says, his young son was nearly killed in a car accident; while the trauma and effects are surely moving, the black and white imagery and sad music feel more exploitative than explanatory.
Still, this documentary makes you think, especially about how you might have effects not only on your local environment -- recycling, reducing oil and electric consumption -- but also how you might become involved in more expansive projects, and consider yourself part of a broader, even worldwide community. That Al Gore provokes such thinking with what amounts to a lecture is no small feat.
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