FILMBRATS - REVIEWS

What would you do if you thought the world might end today? I think the answer for most people would be to indulge in every imaginable sin and live in ignorant chaos until the ride came to an end. For others, it would be a time to be with family. Many would go to their respective God, repent and pray for forgiveness or perhaps a way to avoid the end of civilization. I doubt very many would even try to find out if the end was preventable. Even less would actually give it a shot. Saying that the end of the world is coming may be a bit drastic and inaccurate, but the crisis presented before us in this movie has the potential to completely devastate the living populations of this planet with most of our lifetimes. The problem is getting exponentially worse. Is there a solution, and will you be part of it?

The answer to that first part is yes. As for the second part of the question…well, you’re on your own. But I hope you at least watch the film with an open mind before you make your decision. It’s certainly well worth watching. An Inconceivable Crisis is taking place and you’re shown Indisputable Evidence as to what’s causing it and what will continue to happen should the current trends trudge on. The result is An Indescribable Reminder that political persuasion is far too great on both sides and that too many pressing issues get pushed aside in favor of the popular hot button flash-in-the-pan controversies. The system doesn’t seem to have a system that is willing to look past the four-to-six year mark, which is sad, because there are many potentially dangerous situations that could come to a head in the next few decades that require preventative measures now (this global warming being one of them). I’ll get off my high horse now. I think it has a limp, anyway.

I never would have thought that watching former Vice President Al Gore give a lecture about the perils of global warming would be so interesting. It sounds like getting stranded in between Dullsville and Boringtown. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that Gore is a very eloquent speaker who puts things very simply and plainly while still getting across the pertinent information. I wouldn’t necessarily use the words fun or entertaining simply based on the subject matter. Rather, the film was more fascinating and scary as hell. The most legitimately frightening material he shows are not the graphs and charts, but rather the side by side comparison pictures. You can see how much the ice and snow used to cover the mountain ranges, how wide spread the glaciers reached and how increasingly arid the deserts have become. Everything is spelled out nicely and in a very easy to understand fashion. Any question or point of contention you may have is most likely covered at some point within the film. The biggest flaw is that more time isn’t spent on disputing various criticisms or pointing out potential solutions. Time is spent on both, but I’d like to see more.

“An Inconvenient Truth” may have An Unfortunate Title, but try not to let that stop you. On the filmmaking side, the movie may actually be little more than a glorified slide show with a couple of short vignettes with narration. But if it holds the audience’s attention as well as it does, then who cares. It’s certainly not worthwhile to turn this into a pretentious artistic endeavor with crazy camera work or revolutionary style. Let the presentation speak for itself. Let Gore speak for himself. He does a great and very convincing job of it. I’m sure politicians will come out against this film and try to dispute some of the information presented within it. But honestly, what will it hurt to take the film at face value and potentially overestimate the problem? Wouldn’t you rather see things work out for the better? And after you watch this movie, and you should, you’ll shake your head with the rest of us wondering why more isn’t being done by big business, by the government, and by you and me.

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