An Inconvenient Truth, indeed
Everyone should see Al Gore’s movie, An Inconvenient Truth. I don’t mean that in the trite, cliched sense of the word “everyone.” Literally, every soul in the civilized world, every person who has driven a car, every person who has flown in a plane, every person who has used energy in this world needs to see this movie. They owe it to themselves, and they owe it to the rest of us. I have a deal for you, read on.
If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a movie about the realities we face with global warming. Its thesis is that if we don’t halt our carbon emissions patters within ten years, the earth will fall into another ice age. It is backed by a litany of inscrutable evidence. I might say it’s one of the most powerful messages I’ve ever born witness to. So powerful, someone desensitized and detached as myself became upset to the point of physical illness mid-way through. But I could not move from my seat.
In many ways I wish this movie was not hosted by Al Gore. I voted Gore even though I’m a registered Green (yeah, I just felt some browser windows and aggregators close), but I think he was the wrong person to present the narrative. Gore, of course, has campaigned against global warming for decades, making him the ideal candidate to deliver this movie. He’s given the lecture this film is based off of “thousands of times,” he says, and he does so with such proficiency and solemn fervor it’s astounding. But since the 2000 election he’s become a political lightning rod, and here he’s the messenger of what could be the most important message of the ages for human civilization to receive. Yet his very existence in association with the film — despite the fact that it is in no way about him personally — will prevent the red-leaning folk who control half the votes in this country from receiving this information therein, despite brief, compelling, and irrefutable package.
It’s my birthday in about two weeks. Now, I’m a hard person to shop for, so I wanted to do my republican mother a favor and kill two birds with one stone: to save her the hassle over wondering what to get me, I asked her to see the film as a birthday present to me, and to take my younger brother (a Junior in High School). I told her I’d even pay for their tickets. She said, “Why waste 20 bucks?” Among her excuses, she was sure to pepper the discussion with: “I don’t like Al Gore, you know; he ‘invented the internet.’ Why would I want to support him?” Those tidbits encapsulate to me why things just may not change in time. People are set in their ways, people want to believe what they think is true, and don’t want to be bothered. Hence the name of the film. But mostly people just want to make issues of environmental policy political, when, the film’s host so succinctly states, “It is not a political issue. It is a moral issue.”
As cognizant people we have a moral imperative to educate ourselves to the truths of our current environmental situation on this planet. Be it from Gore or from another source espousing the hard, incontrovertible fact, the knowledge must be passed from person to person.
So if you want to get me something for my birthday this month, go see An Inconvenient Truth. Just let me know you did, that’ll make me as happy as any gift one could get me. If you’d like to leave a comment letting me know what you thought of the film, all the better. Oh, and here’s the deal: I’ll even pay for the movie tickets of the first ten registered republicans who have to suffer through Gore, so to speak, in order to see this film. (Just leave a comment, and I’ll PayPal you or mail you a check, whatever you prefer.) I merely ask you see it — red or blue, SUV or hybrid, man, woman, or child — and start making changes in your life before it’s too late. I don’t know about you, but I really like this place we all live.
Reviews (leave more in the comments!):
Ebert (Chicago Sun Times)
A.O. Scott (NY Times)
David Remnick (The New Yorker)
William Booth (Washington Post)
Liam Lacey (Globe and Mail)
David Edelstein (NY Mag)
you convinced me to see it,with a great post,..to bad i live in australia and it probably wont come out here
Comment by Noah — Sunday, June 11, 2006 @ 7:57 am
It\’s funny how so many political/activist movies are released and distributed in theaters only — totally counterintuitive! If you want to get your message out and get people to rally behind your cause, wouldn\’t it make the most sense to make your film as accessible as possible? Something tells me that even though the film is distributed by Paramount Classics, the film\’s creators probably wouldn\’t mind some people downloading a copy who couldn\’t see it for themselves.
Comment by Ryan Block — Sunday, June 11, 2006 @ 8:48 am
i did have a look around for it but as with most activist/environmental/not for people who use torrents you cant find one with enough damn peers/seeders. Oh well, if it does ever come out here or on dvd in the states i’ll be sure to see it.
Comment by Noah — Tuesday, June 13, 2006 @ 1:38 am
It probably won’t be long until it sees national release, but I think it’s worth seeing as soon as possible. Ack!
Comment by Ryan Block — Tuesday, June 13, 2006 @ 7:29 am