An Inconvenient Truth- ****

An Inconvenient Truth is a documentary about global warming. It’s based on Al Gore’s global warming slideshow which he’s given hundreds of times in cities all over the world. I realize those are two statements that will make anyone run for cover, but bear with me…

Surprisingly, Al Gore is lively and engaging. He comes off less like a lecturer and more like a regular guy giving you the straight facts about the issue. And his argument works. I’ve heard a couple reviews pointing out flaws in what he’s saying, and a couple people saying the evidence is faulty. These are minor quibbles, as Gore is not trying to preach or use scare tactics (he leaves that to FOX News…and with the scare potential of global warming, I’m surprised more neo-cons don’t jump on the bandwagon). He simply lays his case out and it works. And most of what I’ve heard against it is shallow and nitpicky.

Example- one complaint was how Gore shows the glaciers melting and water submerging Florida in an animated sequence. The complaint was he makes it look like it would happen immediately, and it gives people the wrong impression. The truth, though, is Gore is only trying to show the effect of melting glaciers, not the exact length of time it will take. He never states it’s going to happen tomorrow. Now I’m sure there are points in the argument that could be questioned and looked into deeper, but something like this just comes off to me as silly.

The downside to the film is that several times the presentation is interrupted by little glimpses into Al Gore’s personal life. This could work, but the glimpses are quick, unrelated to the topic, and usually accompanied by cheesy shots of Gore staring thoughtfully out of a window. I don’t know that much about Gore and his life, and I would be interested to see something more, but these parts just come off as extraneous. Luckily, they are few and far between.

Reviewing a documentary is hard because, at its core, it’s all about the subject matter. You can watch a very well-made documentary, but if you don’t care about the subject then what’s the point? This is the downside to An Inconvenient Truth. I personally believe in global warming (and have a hard time understanding how people don’t), so it’s not exactly made for me. The people who scoff global warming won’t bother to see it, and those are the people who should.