Okay. So, here's the thing. An Inconvenient Truth is very important and I applaud Al Gore for going out there doing what he's doing. But, really, is this not just preaching to the converted? The biggest problem that Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 had was that it was essentially giving Bush-haters two hours of discussion about how ridiculous he is. And that's what the big problem with An Inconvenient Truth is. Maybe it was because I'm sick and I'm not in the mood to, quite literally, receive a lecture about what a horrible human being I am, but I just couldn't fall in love with this movie. I don't drive, I have energy saving globes in my house, so... what do I get out of this movie? Some snazzy facts and graphics and that's about it. My belief is that until laws are made that are compulsary for people to follow, the general public isn't going to make that much of a difference.It's big businesses that this movie needs to be seen by, not me. The audience for this film is not me. Clear and simple. Sure, I can sit there and watch it and tut tut everything and shake my head and all that jazz, but really, if I flick a lightswitch off more regularly I'm not going to save Africa. And then when it said that Australia only produced something liker 1.1 per cent of the harmful emissions each year?
...speaking of which, why wasn't Australia represented? There was that bit about the Kyoto Protocol (we're not gonna be signing that until Howard stops stiffing George W Bush's arse, or one of them is dumped by their voters) and that thing about cars, but we've had some pretty big disasters. Meh, anyway.
As I said, I can't in all honesty praise this movie as something revolutionary. Because it's not. The people watching this movie, for the most part, are those who already knew there was a problem. Until Gore comes out and says he's shown it to all these big poluting businesses and that they've decided to lower their toxic emissions, it's just a pretty, albiet horrific, crystal ball. And yes, people can also show it to children and they can also help reverse it, and that's good, and it'll be a great school resource (hi, but I'm not in primary school anymore), but for me it just wasn't life-changing.
The best documentaries take you to a world you didn't know. Think Hoop Dreams (one of my favourite films in general, let alone documentary) and Fast, Cheap and Out of Control (also a very simple idea, but done better). Hell, even Bowling for Columbine. I would have much prefered a film that showed the history of global warming and where it's heading instead of a college lecture. There were clips of politicians and courts discussing global warming, I wanted more of that. Gore gave us bits and pieces of how we got to where we are, but I wanted to see more of how people could have been so blind. I was intrigued by Gore's work in the 1980s and the early anti-warming movement.
I know this was just a rambled collection of thoughts (my brain isn't working properly again yet), but in conclusions - good movie, nice execution, great message, but it's like telling a Bush joke to a group of Democrats. They'll nod their head in agreement but what's that gonna do? C+, I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt because it's such an important topic, although I think as a film and especially as a documentary it deserves no more than a C
