Thursday, July 13, 2006
There isn't anything cinematic about An Inconvenient Truth, because it is essentially a filmed lecture and Power Point presentation. Toss Al Gore into it, have him narrate a brief environmental history of America, however, and it suddenly has more weight as a film. But it still isn't. Don't let Gore's fantastic presence fool you. It ain't a movie. It's more of a "projected class lecture," but an inspiring one. Gore fell off the radar, save a few SNL appearances, after the shame of the 2000 election, and those of us who cheered for him then are delighted to see him rallying once again.
As soon as the movie started I saw that its heart wasn't into using a recongizable aesthetic to tell Gore's story, so I let that go immediately, sat back, and pretended I was back in a college classroom taking notes on the day's lecture. In this respect An Inconvenient Truth did not let me down; it's an urgent reminder to stay conscious of how our day-to-day functions effect the globe now, and later. Gore gives us hard facts about the state of the environment, which predicts doom for earth and humanity in a frightening length of time if our earth-unfriendly lifestyle doesn't change.
The movie can't be classified as a piece of political propaganda, because Gore has a remove from current politics that give him the freedom to discuss controversial topics unrestrained. Now he doesn't have to worry about offending certain demographics, now he can educate a mass audience on a topic that's near to his heart. Sure, there are a few mentions of the current presidential administration's outright ignorance on the topic of the environment, but you can't blame Gore for having just a little resentment towards Bush after the mess that was the 2000 Election. So I'll let those those juicy jabs at W. and Co. slide.
Nor is the movie a kind of scare tactic meant to cause hysteria. There was a moment of speechless silence as the end credits concluded the movie. I saw it at a theater on the Upper-West side of Manhattan where folks glee in speaking about a film as they file through the rows of seats and out the theater door. But they were silent. It was a meditative and calculated quiet that patrons kept inside themselves, a rational calm meant to preserve the gravity of the lecture they just saw. Gore's message is clear: we have to imagine the change in our daily lives; we must demand more energy efficient public transportation; new sources of energy must be utilized; cars and fossil fuels have to be used less; we cannot depend on the lifestyle we lead now to bring us into a healthy and progressive future.
There are a lot of people who think this business about the damaged state of the environment is a hoax. Most of them hang around the Fox network newsroom. But I digress. To be fair, it must be hard for Fox employees to rationalize complex topics and scientific facts with all of that hot air floating around. Whatever. Point is, the facts are there. All you really have to do is look at any city skyline and see the hazy smog that clogs it. Even if one might think these smoky skylines have no long-term effect on the environment (though they do, e.g. melted glaciers), that dirty air certainly has a short-term effect: it stinks.
As a film, An Inconvenient Truth doesn't exist. There's just no artistic aesthetic to prove it. But, in a way, it's lack of cinematic style makes Gore's message more urgent. He's imposing himself on the movies, one of our greatest respites for fantasy, only to give us reality.
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